Unity Research: 53% of Devs Report Rise in Toxic Behavior in 2023

Unity has recently conducted a report on toxicity in multiplayer games that delves into the recent findings of a 2023 study by Harris Poll, commissioned by Unity. This study examined player and developer perspectives in three countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. The study involved 2,522 players and 407 developers as respondents and revealed some interesting data worth considering.

According to the report, 53% of game developers have observed an increase in toxic player behavior over the past year. The survey's definition of toxic behavior encompassed disruptive play, harassment, extremism, cheating, inappropriate content, and other forms of negative conduct. In addition, players shared their experiences of encountering harmful activities across various game genres during the past year.

Notably, the top three genres where players encountered toxic experiences were first-person shooters (51%), sports/racing titles (49%), and battle royale games (44%). Conversely, the genres associated with the least toxicity were card/deck-building games (23%), puzzle games (29%), and adventure/platformers (30%) in terms of encountering harmful behavior online.

The also report reveals that card/deck building games had the lowest toxicity rate at 23%, followed by puzzle games at 29%, and adventure/platformers with 30% of players encountering harmful behavior online.

Almost all players don't want to sit idly by, instead, they take action. 96% of the gamers choose to use blocking and reporting as their way to fight back toxicity. Interestingly, 67% of them are considering leaving toxic games, and 74% have already taken action and started avoiding games "known for their hostile communities".

In response to these findings, Unity proposes several recommendations for developers to combat online toxicity, which involve promoting positive behavior and fostering collaboration across the industry to mitigate toxic elements.

Speaking of Unity, yesterday we published an interview with Johannes Knop who told us about their game ABRISS where you build to destroy, discussed their brutalist art style, and how the game was created with the help of Unity. If you want to have a look at it, here it is.

Get Unity's report here and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.