The video game The industry has been in dire straits for the past year, with studio closures and job security at the forefront of developers’ minds. Increase in layoffs with seemingly no end in sight paints a bleak picture for developers, while companies are busy pumping money into AI Initiatives.
According to a new report from the organizers of the Game Developers Conference, 52% of developers surveyed said they work at companies that used Generative AI on their games. Of the 3,000 people surveyed, about half said they were concerned about the technology’s impact on the industry and a growing number said they had negative feelings toward AI in general. The “State of the Video Game Industry” report, released Tuesday, is part of a series of surveys conducted each year by GDC organizers ahead of their annual conference. This year’s event will take place in San Francisco in March.
The GDC 2025 report follows a tumultuous few years in the industry. Even though games like Astrobot, Helldiverse 2And Balatro found success, the studios like Microsoft and Sony have reduced staff And games canceled. Amid a mix of cultural and economic factors impacting the industry, developers also still face corporate enthusiasm for technology that some find ethically concerning.
“I have a PhD in AI and have worked on developing some of the algorithms used by generative AI,” one developer wrote. “I deeply regret the naivety with which I offered my contributions.”
About 30 percent of developers who responded to the survey said they had negative feelings toward AI, up from 18 percent last year; only 13% think AI has a positive impact on games, up from 21% in 2024. “No matter how you say it, generative AI is not a good substitute for real people and the quality is going to be damaged », another developer. »wrote in his response.
For developers, AI has the potential to help with several tasks, respondents said, including coding, concept art and generating 3D models, but when asked what uses they saw for AI in the industry, “the word the most frequently used in their responses was “none”, the organizers of the GDC. wrote.
In theory, generative AI could help some developers lighten their workload. This doesn’t happen. Instead, developers would work more hours than they have in years. Thirteen percent of respondents reported working more than 51 hours per week, up from 8 percent of respondents last year. While these overtime hours could be attributed to developers having to take on extra work to compensate for colleagues lost during massive industry-wide layoffs in 2024, many have expressed concerns that the AI was also a factor. “We should use generative AI to help people be faster at their jobs, without losing them,” one worker wrote.
Layoffs, industry history in recent years, always poses a huge problem. “Survive until 25“, the mantra of struggling developers, has done little to help those who have lost their jobs. According to the survey, one in ten developers have been laid off in the past year. There was also an increase in “N/A” responses: “The question did not apply because they were already laid off or unemployed.” In other words, it wasn’t a problem now because, in a way, it had already happened to them.