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41% Developers in 2025 GDC Survey Impacted by Layoffs, 11% Experienced Layoffs
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Of the developers surveyed this year, 11% reported being laid off themselves, with highest impact being in the narrative field with 19% of respondents. Business and Finance saw the least prominent layoffs with 6%. While 19% of developers reported that there was “no reason given” for any of the layoffs at their company, when asked their opinion on causal factors, the most frequently mentioned were "Covid-era overexpansion, rising production costs, declining player interest, unrealistic expectations for the 'next big hit,' and poor leadership and mismanagement."
Unity and Unreal Engine are the most used game engines this year with 32% of developers using each. 13% of developers stated that they use proprietary or in-house engines.
The highest percentage of developers reported making content for PC for their current project at 80%, up from last year's 66%. 38% of developers report working on content for the PlayStation 5, 34% for the Xbox Series X|S, 20% for the Nintendo Switch, 8% for the Nintendo Switch 2, and 16% on games for browsers. Mobile game development has increased 5% over last year's results. 29% of developers stated that they are currently working on games for Android and 28% for iOS.
Similarly, 37% of developers plan to develop for the PlayStation 5 for their next project, 33% for Xbox, 21% for Switch, and 20% for Switch 2.
Of respondents who chose "other" as a platform they'd be interested in developing content for, 44% of them listed the Steam Deck as a platform they're interested in. Last year, 32% of overall respondents said the "Switch successor" was the platform that most interested them, while only 8% of developers stated they were actively developing for the upcoming console.
When it comes to the use of generative AI (artificial intelligence), 64% of developers reported that their companies have implemented internal policy for its use, up from 51% of developers who said so in the 2024 survey. 78% of developers that work at AAA studios stated that their companies have implemented internal policy regarding generative AI. 13% of developers stated generative AI is having a positive impact on the industry, down from last year's 21%. With a 12-point increase from 2024, 30% developers stated that generative AI is having a negative impact on the industry.
16% of developers said their companies do not allow the use of generative AI, and 9% said it is mandated in their workplace. Last year, 12% of developers said their companies do not allow the use of generative AI while only 2% said it is mandated.
A majority of developers this year think that their company's DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and accessibility efforts have been at least "slightly successful" at 71%. 51% stated the same about their company's sustainability efforts. While they expressed varying levels of comfort and understanding in implementing accessibility measures in their games, 80% of developers personally expressed some level of comfort.
While 57% of developers reported working for 40 hours per week or less, 13% of developers say they're working more than 51 hours per week on average, up from 8% last year.
The survey asked more than 3,000 game developers about their work and about the industry. The report surveyed developers from 86 countries, but a majority of the respondents (58%) were in the United States. The report stated, "Some responses in this survey may overly represent the experiences of developers in the West and may not always reflect the views of the global community at large."
The Game Developers Conference will be held at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from March 17 through March 21.
Source: GDC's 2025 State of the Game Industry report and survey
