PC Dominates Game Dev as Switch, PS5 Fade

The 2025 Game Developers Conference (GDC) State of the Game Industry report highlights a significant shift in game development focus. A striking 80% of developers are prioritizing PC as their primary platform, a 14% jump from the previous year's 66%.

PC Dominance and Potential Shifts:

The report, released January 21st, 2025, attributes this surge in PC development, at least partially, to the growing popularity of Valve's Steam Deck. While not a selectable option in the survey, 44% of respondents who used the "Other" category specified the Steam Deck as a key platform. This trend builds on previous years, with PC dominance increasing from 56% in 2020 to 66% in 2024. The upcoming release of the Switch 2, however, may introduce some alterations to this trend, given its anticipated graphical and performance improvements.

Live Service Games: A Mixed Bag:

The report also delves into the prevalence of live-service games. A third (33%) of AAA developers are currently working on live-service titles. Across all respondents, 16% are actively developing live-service games, with another 13% expressing interest. However, a substantial 41% showed no interest, citing concerns such as declining player engagement, creative limitations, potentially exploitative practices, and developer burnout. GDC points to market saturation as a major challenge for live-service games, exemplified by the recent closure of Ubisoft's XDefiant after only six months.

Geographic Representation Concerns:

A subsequent PC Gamer article (January 23rd, 2025) raised concerns about the geographical representation within the GDC survey. Nearly 70% of respondents hailed from Western countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia), with notable absences from major gaming regions like China and Japan. This skewed representation might influence the report's findings and potentially limit its global applicability.