Game Developer Research released the results of its seventh annual State of the Game Development Industry this afternoon. The 180 page report, compiled by surveying nearly 2,000 industry professionals who either read Gamasutra or subscribe to Game Developer magazine, answers more than 55 questions that cover numerous topics in the development field.
“Our goal at Game Developer Research is always to arm the industry with the knowledge necessary to continue pushing the boundaries of game development,” said Simon Carless, publisher of Game Developer magazine. “We hope that companies already succeeding in or looking to enter the game technology space find the report to be an integral tool for growth.”
A snippet of the survey can be found below. To see the survey in its entirety, head here.
Survey Snippet (via PR):
- Overall, 70% of those replying are making games on the PC or Mac, with 43% creating for console and 28% for web platforms — with just 16% making games for handheld platforms such as the DS or PSP.
- Of the surveyed console developers, which represent a notable cross-section of the entire industry, 73% are creating games for Xbox 360, 58% (including some of the same respondents) for the PlayStation 3, and 42% for the Wii — with 15% still creating games for the PlayStation 2. This implies that the greatest amount of Western console developers by sheer numbers are creating games for Microsoft’s console
- but due to team size differences, this doesn’t necessarily imply that more games will appear on the Xbox 360 than other consoles.
- Again, of the largely North American and European developers surveyed, Nintendo DS had the largest amount of creators by numbers, with 75% of those handheld developers surveyed making games for it — and with 45% making games for the PSP.
The report also discusses trends in programming language. Of those responding, 76% are currently using C++ to make games, with 31% using C#, and 19% using Java/J2ME in their programming efforts. In addition, 9% of those replying still use assembly language in some way.
The remainder of the survey offers data on the purchasing habits and development choices of the game development industry, with market share information in areas as diverse as AI tools, game engines, 3D art software, compilers, books, motion capture suites, and computer hardware — covering every submarket of purchases made by game makers. Game Developer Research expects the report to be of interest to technology companies in the game development space, as well as those looking to enter the market or to survey general game industry trends.
Tags: gamasutra, game developer research, ps3 walk throughs, video game industry, wii locate, xbox 360 top games
