Last year was a fantastic year for games, with standout triple-A releases like Baldur's Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and great independent games like Jusant, Sea of Stars, and countless others. But in 2023 alone, more than 10,000 developers and people in games-adjacent industries were laid off. Plus, the unchecked rise of A.I. continued, and Unity burned developers with its controversial new game engine policies, not to name a few other not-so-great parts about 2023 – it was a great year for games but one of the worst for those who make them.
Now, just as 2024 has begun, the Game Developers Conference has released its 12th annual State of the Game Industry report. Its data was collected from 3000 developers surveyed back in October of last year. GDC and GameDeveloper.com partnered with Omdia, a research firm, to dissect the data. In its State of the Game Industry 2024 report, which you can view in full here, developers share their thoughts on A.I., layoffs, social media, and its role in marketing, game engines, and more.
«The most striking observation derived from job losses in the industry – naturally a pressing concern for many,» Omdia research director Dom Tait writes in the report. «Among the insightful developer comments on the subject was the following: 'Studios grew too quickly during the pandemic.' This statement is born out of games industry data, which shows a Covid-driven hump of extra revenue in 2020 and 2021, collectively totaling $50 billion over expected figures.
»But 2022 and 2023 showed a reversion to the spend treeline seen prior to 2020, thus this reduction in headcount is partly caused by companies belatedly adjusting to the new, less positive market reality. However, with the forecast returning to steady growth to 2027, this ought to present a more stable picture for employment levels in the future."
Below, we'll break down some of the highlights of the State of the Game Industry 2024 report.
Here are the ages of the 3000 developers surveyed for this report:
And here are the races/ethnicities of the 3000 developers surveyed for this report:
Here are the genders of those surveyed:
And here are the regions of the world where the developers surveyed reside:
87 percent of game developers with 21 years or more of experience in the games industry surveyed for this year's report are men, and 92 percent of those men are White. Asian men represent 15 percent of game developers with 21 years or more of experience, Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish-origin men make up 8 percent, and Black men make up 6 percent. White women represent 5 percent of game developers with 21 years or more of experience, as do Asian women. Zero Black women or Hispanic,
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Developer Rocksteady Studios has taken its new live-service multiplayer shooter set in the Batman: Arkham universe, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice Leauge, offline after Early Access players hit a «story completion» bug. While the standard edition of the game doesn't hit PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC until this Friday, February 2, players who purchase the more expensive Deluxe Edition, which costs $99.99 compared to the Standard Edition's $69.99 price tag, can jump in three days early.
Publisher Bandai Namco and developer Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. have revealed 24 fighters for Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, and they're all Goku and Vegeta. Unsurprisingly, considering Goku and Vegeta are the two main characters in the Dragon Ball Z saga (amongst others like Gohan, for example), Spike Chunsoft is giving players the chance to fight using their various forms. This includes Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2, Majin Vegeta, and more.
Blizzard Entertainment's survival game, which it informally announced in 2022, was reportedly canceled over engine issues during its six years of development, according to a new Bloomberg report. This report follows yesterday's news that Microsoft is laying off 1,900 employees across its Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax divisions. Alongside this news, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra also announced he was departing from the company, and we learned the aforementioned survival game had been canceled.
Earlier this month, developer Naughty Dog announced Grounded II: Making The Last of Us Part II would be coming to its recent release, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, in a post-launch update for the game. Now, we know exactly when this behind-the-scenes documentary will be live: February 2.
Black Forest Games, the studio behind the recent Destroy All Humans! 1 and 2 remakes, has reportedly laid off about 50 people. This news comes from Kotaku, which learned from a source with knowledge of the situation that these layoffs were announced yesterday, January 24, and that more information about them would be provided next week.
I've been tracking developer Ubisoft Singapore's naval warfare multiplayer game, Skull and Bones, since its reveal years ago, both as a massive fan of all things pirates and someone who specifically loved the high seas action of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. I wrote Game Informer's Skull and Bones cover story back in 2022, and have played the game several times since then in previews, betas, and more.
The Final Fantasy XIV live-action television series first announced back in 2019 is «dead,» according to the production company that was working on it. Hivemind, which also worked on Netflix's The Witcher, was developing the series with Sony Pictures Television, but co-founder Dinesh Shamdasani revealed on Twitter that the project is dead when asked about it, as reported by PC Gamer.
People Can Fly, the developer behind 2021's surprise shooter hit Outriders, has laid off more than 30 employees. This news comes by way of Kotaku, which reports that its source with knowledge of the situation said the job cuts affected only staff working on an unannounced game at the studio, codenamed Project Gemini, that is to be published by Square Enix.
Koji Kondo, longtime composer for The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. franchises, will be inducted into the Academy of Interactvie Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame at this year's D.I.C.E. Awards. The presentation will take place at the 27th annual D.I.C.E. Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, during the ceremony on Thursday, February 15, at 8 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET.
Nintendo has announced that it will stream full pre-recorded concerts for The Legend of Zelda series and its Splatoon franchise next month. Both concerts were set to be a part of Nintendo Live events in December of last year and this month, too, in Tokyo, Japan, but these events were canceled over safety concerns, as reported by VideoGamesChronicle. Now, everyone will be able to watch these concerts when they hit the official Nintendo YouTube channel next month.
Developer Pocketpair has shared the Early Access roadmap for its hit «Pokémon with guns» survival game, Palworld, alongside news that the game crossed 7 million copies sold in just five days. For reference, it took Marvel's Spider-Man 2, a PlayStation 5-exclusive game starring arguably the most popular superhero in the world, 11 days to cross the 5 million mark. This roadmap includes PvP, raid bosses and other endgame content, Steam-Xbox crossplay, bug fixes, additional features, and more.