STATE of the GAME INDUSTRY

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ST ATE of the
G A ME IND UST RY

GDC 2025 STATE OF THE GAME INDUSTRY | 1
Foreword
It seems fitting that we’ve reached the 13th year
of GDC’s State of the Game Industry, a number viewed as lucky in some
cultures and unlucky in others, because it feels like the last 12 months
have seen their share of fortune and heartbreak.
Industry layoffs have continued, to the point where one in 10 developers
say they’ve lost their jobs in the past year. This is happening as more
studios adopt Generative AI, even though it’s increasingly unpopular
among developers. Working hours are going up, investment
opportunities are shrinking, and recent severe weather events like
Hurricane Milton and the Southern California wildfires are drawing
attention to the growing impact of climate disasters.
But the game industry is resilient, as are its developers. PC development has
skyrocketed, more studios are prioritizing game accessibility, unionization
support holds steady, and Hollywood continues to see the
value in adapting games for the big (and small) screen.
This year, we surveyed over 3,000 developers (with a
±2 percent MoE), working with research partners at
Omdia to analyze the survey data and collaborating
with the team at Game Developer.
Thank you to everyone who participated by sharing
your thoughts and perspectives.
GDC Team
Contents
1. The Global Game Developer Community 2
2. Industry Layoffs 8
3. Generative AI 13
4. Engines & Platforms 18
5. The Business of Games 29
6. Publishing & Financing 28
7. Advocacy 33

GDC 2025 STATE OF THE GAME INDUSTRY | 2
THE GLOBAL
G A ME DE VEL OPER
COMM UN IT Y 1
2025 ST ATE O F THE G AME INDUSTR Y

GDC 2025 STATE OF THE GAME INDUSTRY | 3
The Developers
of 2025
The game industry continues to grow
and change, along with its players.
While the industry remains largely
white and male, a few key data points
show how the developer community is
becoming more diverse.
Gender diversity in the game industry has seen
a notable shift over the past few years. Women
and non-binary developers now make up 32% of
game developers, compared to 29% last year and
24% in 2022. Men still make up two-thirds (66%) of
developers. However, that number was 75% in 2020,
meaning we’ve seen a 9-point change over the past
five years.
LGBTQ representation among developers has also
increased, with one-fourth of respondents identifying
as LGBTQ+ (up from 21% in 2024). Nearly half (43%) of
18–24-year-old developers identify as LGBTQ+, and
women developers are almost four times more likely
than men to do so.
COMMUNITY
AGE
LGBTQ+
35%
are white, male,
not part of the
LGBTQ+ community
GENDER
Prefer not
to answer 7%
No 69% Man 66%
Yes 24% Woman 25%
Non-binary 6%
Prefer not

to answer 2%
Not listed
(please specify)
0.3%
25-34 ……………………… 36%
35-44 ……………………… 33%
45-54 ………………………. 15%18-24
……………………….. 10%
55-64 ………………………… 5%
65 or older ……………….1%

GDC 2025 STATE OF THE GAME INDUSTRY | 4
The Global
Game Development
Community
This year’s State of the Game
Industry report includes developers
from 86 countries, spread out over
six continents.
The United States has the largest concentration of
respondents, along with European countries like the
UK, France, and Germany. Other countries of note
include Canada, Brazil, India, China, and Mexico.
The Game Developers Conference is in the United
States––as are many attendees, who tend to be the bulk
of respondents to our annual survey. Some responses
in this survey may overly represent the experiences of
developers in the West and may not always reflect the
views of the global community at large.
COUNTRIES WITH THE MOST RESPONDENTS
United States ……………..58%
United Kingdom …………7%
Canada …………………………… 6%
Australia ………………………….. 3%Poland
………………………….. 1.6%
Brazil ……………………………… 1.6%
Sweden ………………………… 1.4%France
………………………….. 1.4%
Germany ……………………… 1.3%
India ………………………………. 1.3%
COMMUNITY

GDC 2025 STATE OF THE GAME INDUSTRY | 5
Race / Ethnicity
We have seen a change in racial and ethnic diversity in the game development
community since last year––though it’s a little more difficult to quantify, as many
of the changes are too small to draw conclusions. According to the survey, 16% of
developers are East, South, or Southeast Asian, one-tenth are Hispanic, Latino, or
of Spanish origin, and 3% are Black, African, or Caribbean.
The combined increases did manifest in a year-over-year decrease in the number
of respondents identifying as White or Caucasian––going from 64% in 2024 to
59% today.
COMMUNITY
White / Caucasian 59%
Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin 10%
East Asian 9%
Multiple ethnicities / Not listed 5%
Prefer not to answer 4%
Southeast Asian 4%
Black / African / Caribbean 3%
South Asian 3%
Middle Eastern or North African 2%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 0.4%
American Indian or Alaska Native 0.3%

The Developer’s Role
Despite the surge in layoffs, the
breakdown of job roles in the game
industry has remained consistent.
The top roles are in game design,
programming, and production & team
management, like 2024.
The majority of respondents (59%) are either solo
developers or work for studios that are the primary
developers of their games. When it comes to job roles,
newer developers are more likely to have careers in
game design, while those with more experience tend to
favor production & team management.
Game narrative jobs have seen the most year-on-year
growth, going from 14% of developers in 2024 to 17%
of them today. However, game narrative professionals
reported being excessively impacted by layoffs in the
last year.
JOB ROLE
COMMUNITY
GDC 2025 STATE OF THE GAME INDUSTRY | 6
Game Design 35%
Programming / Engineering 34%
Production & Team Management 31%
Visual Arts 20%
Business & Finance 19%
Narrative / Writing 17%
Community / Marketing / PR 14%
Quality Assurance 11%
Audio 10%
Not listed (please specify) 9%

GDC 2025 STATE OF THE GAME INDUSTRY | 7
Currently, 60% of game developers report
having 10 years or less experience in the
industry. That’s up from 56% last year and 57%
the year before that.
We have seen a shift in the number of
respondents who are working as solo
developers, increasing from 18% in 2024 to 21%
today. In fact, there are now more developers
working alone than there are developers at
studios with over 500 people.
The percentage of respondents who work at
indie studios or AA studios has not changed,
but we have seen a decrease in AAA studio
representation—going from 18% in 2024 to
15% today. Of those AAA developers, almost
half of them work at companies with over 250
employees, while over half of indie developers
work for companies with 20 people or fewer.
STUDIO TYPE
YEARS IN INDUSTRY STUDIO SIZE
COMMUNITY
21%
of developers
work alone
Myself only 21%
2-5 14%
21-50 10%
51-100

8%
101-250
8%
251-500
7%6-10 7%
11-20 7%
More than
500 18%