A new State of the Game Industry report from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) has been revealed, offering a comprehensive look at the trends and challenges in the gaming industry, including the impact of generative AI, the spread of layoffs, and more.

According to the report, 40% of developers are using generative AI in their work, up 4% from the previous report. Among those who use it, 57% apply it to text generation, research, early prototyping, coding, and presentations. Business operations and services, mobile-only studios, and free-to-play developers are the groups where generative AI is most common. More than half (55%) of respondents believe AI is having a negative impact on games, which is a 1% increase compared to the previous year. 35% of respondents say the impact is mixed, and 8% say it's positive. The highest negative sentiment is reported across the QA and community support roles.

The survey also explored widespread layoffs. According to the data, 33% of respondents have been laid off in the past 24 months, and about half said that their company had undergone job cuts. Among AAA employees, 68% say their studio has cut jobs. More than half of those who were laid off haven't found a new job. 27% of laid-off workers report they had sent more than 100 job applications.

As for the gaming platforms, PC remains the most popular platform, with 81% of respondents developing for it, followed by PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro (45%), Xbox Series X/S (37%), Steam Deck (32%), and Nintendo Switch 2 (29%).

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