GDC’s 2020 State of the Game Industry Survey: Interest Uptick in Next-Gen Consoles, VR, Unionization
Image via CD Projekt Red
The Games Developer Conference has released the results of the eighth annual State of the Game Industry survey, which polls over 4,000 industry professionals on their opinions and sentiments of the gaming climate’s current state.
Notably, more than 10% of respondents are in the process of developing games for next-gen consoles. This means about 400 industry professionals are currently working on titles for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, both of which are slated for a fourth quarter 2020 release. A measly 6% mentioned working on games for Google Stadia, which has received pretty negative press and poor sales since its launch last November. The PC remains the industry’s Old Faithful—56% of respondents noted they were currently in the process of developing titles available on home computers. The interest in next-gen consoles is there, though. 38% of respondents noted they were interested in releasing their next title on PlayStation 5, just a point above the interest in the Nintendo Switch at 37%.
For the past five years of polling, augmented reality seems like the favorite choice in terms of “immersive reality” technology for the industry. This year marked a change in that respect: 25% of respondents thought VR would dominate over AR, with 19% speculating the two would receive equal reception. This is a 6% rise from 2018’s survey. GDC points to the Oculus Quest as the possible cause for this renewed VR interest. The VR headset was released last year in May, with critics noting its “revolutionary” potential despite its hefty price tag.