The Future of Game Development & Trends From Our 2023 Report
The game development industry is constantly evolving. New game development trends emerge every year. Technology advances, bringing new opportunities for game development studios to innovate.
Here, we share some of insights from our 2023 State of Game Development & Design Report. Get an overview of the key findings, from top challenges to game development trends and more.
Game Development Trends to Know: What’s In the 2023 Report?
Watch game development industry experts from Perforce and Incredibuild discuss the key findings of our 2023 report:
Game Development Trends in 2023
For our 2023 report, we surveyed game creators around the world, from indies to AAAs. We wanted to know about their top development challenges and the tools and processes they use. We also asked them open-ended questions about what they would change in the game development industry, and what they’re most excited about.
Here are some of the key findings from this year’s report:
Talent acquisition is the most difficult challenge facing teams today.
AR and VR game development is down.
PC remains the most popular platform to develop games for.
Many studios are self-publishing.
AAAs are short on time.
We dive into all of these findings in the full report, which you can download for free. For now, here is a quick look at some of these key findings.
#1 Challenge: Talent Acquisition and Retention
This year, 32% of respondents said that acquiring and retaining talent is their most significant challenge to game development. In previous years, securing funding had been the leading challenge.
A global labor shortage is still impacting all industries. With the shifts in work many have made through the COVID-19 pandemic, teams of all sizes are being impacted by a lack of staff.
AAAs Are Short On Time
Time for innovation was the #3 challenge for all of our survey respondents. Everyone in the industry is feeling pressed for time.
But time-related issues are even more significant for AAA game developers. In particular, 31% say “lengthy build times” are the biggest challenge to development velocity, and 18% say “not enough time to iterate” is the biggest challenge. That means for 49% of AAA respondents, time was a driving blocker.
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PC Remains Popular, AR/VR Development is Down
Developers we surveyed in 2020 and 2021 predicted that AR and VR would become a dominating presence in the industry. But this year, only 13% of survey respondents say they are currently working on a VR project. That number was 28% just last year.
On the other hand, PC is still the most popular platform to develop games for. This year, 90% of respondents say they are developing their current project for it.
New platforms like VR have not taken off as quickly as many developers imagined they would. With instability in the global economy, studios want to develop games that are the most likely to succeed. So they are sticking with more established markets.
📘 Related Resources:Game Development Resources for Indies to AAAs 🎮
The Future of Game Development: What Do Game Creators Want to Change?
We asked our survey takers, what would you change about the game development industry?
It was an open-ended question, and survey respondents could write in their answers. We received a variety of answers, but some of the trends we found include:
Work environment and culture — Game dev professionals want to reduce crunch culture.
Monetization and design — They want to focus less on profit-driven design and more on creating unique experiences.
Accessibility and diversity — They want to increase representation for underrepresented groups and support remote work.
As Ryan L’Italien, Brad Hart, and Duncan Huffman discuss in the webinar, The 2023 State of Game Development & Design Report: Trends to Know, the things that game developers would change about the industry are aligned with what they are most excited about. Just some of the things game creators said they are most excited about include:
A movement towards inclusivity.
Technological innovations like AI and VR.
The revitalization of niche genres.
Get the Full Report for Game Development Trends & Insights
For 20+ pages of actionable insights on game development trends, challenges, and more, download a full copy of the 2023 State of Game Development & Design Report for free.