HOW MANY GAME DEVS ARE USING AI? GDC STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT

The recently-published GDC State of the Industry has once again thrown up some interesting statistics on who makes up the global games development community, how they’re working, their challenges and successes, and more.

The survey was completed by some 3,000 industry professionals in 86 countries, although skewed towards the US (58% of respondents). In terms of roles, 35% work in Game Design, 34% in Programming/Engineering and 31% Production and Team Management.

AI is on everyone’s lips right now, both in games and beyond, and the GDC report has thrown up some interesting findings in this area. According to the survey, 52% of developers work at studios where Generative AI tools are being used, while 36% say they use these tools personally. When asked what applications they saw for the use of GenAI in the industry, they highlighted tasks such as coding assistance, concept art and 3D model generation, plus automation of repetitive work.

In terms of policies on AI within studios, the report claims that 64% of developers say they work at companies with some form of internal policy for Generative AI use, up from 51% in 2024. This increases to 78% for developers at AAA studios. Interestingly, the report claims: ‘We’ve seen a more substantial rise in the number of developers whose companies allow optional use of Generative AI tools—along with companies that don’t allow them to be used at all.’

The ethics around the use of AI are clearly being considered by individuals. 13% believe it is having a positive impact on the games industry – down from 21% last year. Meanwhile, 30% claim it is having a negative impact, up 12 points from last year.

So, who’s using it the most. At the top of the list it’s Business & Finance (51%), followed by Production & Leadership Team (41%) and Community/Marketing/PR (39%).

And in what may come as a surprise, older developers are more likely to use GenAI tools than their younger counterparts.

The GDC State of the Game Industry Report includes insights into many other areas which we’ll look at separately. And if you’d like to download your free copy, click here - https://shorturl.at/Es48x

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash