The video game industry has been in trouble for the past year, with studio closures and job security at the forefront of developer issues. Increasing layoffs with seemingly no end paints a bleak picture for devs, when companies are busy pumping money into AI initiatives. According to a new report from the organizers of the Game Developers Conference, 52 percent of the devs surveyed said they work in companies that use generative AI in games. Of the 3,000 people surveyed, roughly half said they were concerned about the technology’s impact on the industry and an increasing number reported they felt negatively about AI. The “State of the Game Industry” report, released Tuesday, is one of a series of surveys conducted each year by GDC organizers ahead of the annual conference. This year’s event will be held in San Francisco in March. The GDC 2025 report comes after a tumultuous few years in the industry. Despite the success of games like Astro Bot, Helldivers 2, and Balatro, studios like Microsoft and Sony have cut staff and canceled games. Amidst a mix of cultural and economic factors affecting the industry, developers are also still pursuing a corporate passion for technology that few find ethical. the developer wrote. “I deeply regret how naively I offered up my contribution.” Some 30 percent of developers who responded to the survey said they felt negatively about AI, compared to 18 percent last year; only 13 percent believe that AI has a positive impact on games, down from 21 percent in 2024. “No matter how you put it, generative AI is not a great replacement for real people and the quality will be damaged,” another developer. For developers, AI has the potential to help with a number of tasks, respondents said, including coding, concept art, and 3D model generation, but when asked what use they see for AI in industry, the most frequently used word in their responses was ‘none,’ ” wrote the GDC committee. In theory, generative AI could help some developers lighten their workload. It didn’t happen. However, developers are reportedly working longer than they have in years. Thirteen percent of respondents reported putting in 51-plus-hour weeks, up from 8 percent of respondents last year. While the additional hours may be attributed to developers doing extra work to make up for colleagues lost during the industry’s massive 2024 layoffs, many have expressed concern that AI is also a factor. “We need to use generative AI to help people get faster at their jobs, not get lost,” wrote one worker. Layoffs, the story of the industry over the past few years, are still a big deal. “Survive until ’25,” the mantra for struggling developers, hardly helped those who lost their jobs. According to the survey, one in 10 developers has been fired in the past year. There is also an increase in “N/A” responses: “the question does not apply because he has been fired or unemployed. In other words, it is not a problem now because, in some way, it has happened to him.
Game Developers Are Frustrated With Bosse’s AI Initiative
