GDC's 2025 State of the Game Industry report reveals a significant shift in development focus: 80% of game developers are prioritizing PC as their primary platform. Let's delve into the key findings of this insightful report.
The 2025 State of the Game Industry Report
PC Dominates: 80% of Developers Target This Platform
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) released its 2025 State of the Game Industry report on January 21, 2025, highlighting a remarkable trend: a staggering 80% of game developers are currently developing for PC. This represents a substantial 14% increase from the 66% reported in 2024. While the exact reasons remain unclear, the report suggests the rising popularity of Valve's Steam Deck may be a contributing factor. Interestingly, while the Steam Deck wasn't a direct survey option, 44% of those who selected "Other" specified the Steam Deck as a target platform.
Last year's report already identified PC as the dominant platform, even amidst the rise of UGC platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, and the anticipation surrounding the Switch 2. However, this year's figures solidify PC's leading position, showcasing a steady increase from 56% in 2020. The continued growth suggests an even larger PC game library in the future. Nevertheless, the upcoming release of the Switch 2, with its promised graphical and performance improvements, could potentially introduce some degree of change to this established trend.
Live Service Games: A Mixed Bag for AAA Developers
The report also sheds light on the prevalence of live-service games within the AAA development sphere. A significant one-third (33%) of AAA developers are currently working on a live-service title. Expanding the survey to all respondents, 16% are actively developing live-service games, with another 13% expressing interest. Conversely, 41% showed no interest, citing concerns such as declining player interest, creative stagnation, predatory practices, microtransactions, and developer burnout.
GDC emphasizes "market oversaturation" as a major challenge for live-service games, with many struggling to maintain a sustainable player base. The recent closure of Ubisoft's XDefiant, just six months after launch, serves as a stark example of this difficulty.
Geographic Representation: A Noteworthy Omission
A PC Gamer article published on January 23, 2025, points out a significant underrepresentation of developers from certain regions in GDC's report. Nearly 70% of respondents hailed from Western countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia), with notable absences including China (a major player in the mobile game market) and Japan. This skewed representation could potentially influence the report's findings and limit its reflection of the global game development landscape.
