Video game the industry has been in a complex situation over the past year, with studio closures and job security being the main concerns for developers. The seemingly endless mounting layoffs paint a bleak picture for developers while companies are busy pumping money into artificial intelligence initiatives.
The GDC 2025 report comes after several turbulent years in the industry. Even like games Astrobot, Helldivers 2AND Balatro was successful, studies like Microsoft and Sony have it mediocre staff and canceled matches. Amid a range of cultural and economic factors impacting the industry, developers continue to face companies’ enthusiasm for technology that some consider ethical.
“I have a PhD in artificial intelligence and have worked on developing some of the algorithms used by generative AI,” one developer wrote. “I deeply regret how naively I offered my contribution.”
About 30 percent of developers who responded to the survey said they had a negative view of AI, up from 18 percent last year; only 13 percent thought AI was having a positive impact on gaming, compared to 21 percent in 2024. “No matter how you put it, generative AI is not a good replacement for real humans and quality will decline” – another programmer – wrote in their response.
For developers, artificial intelligence has potential respondents said it was intended to aid with several tasks, including coding, concept art and 3D model generation, but when asked about the applications of AI they see in the industry, “the most frequently used word in their responses was ‘none'” – GDC organizers he wrote.
In theory, generative AI could aid some developers reduce their workload. This isn’t happening. Instead, developers are reportedly working longer hours than they have in years. Thirteen percent of respondents reported working more than 51 hours a week, up from 8 percent of respondents last year. While these extra hours could be attributed to developers taking on extra work to make up for colleagues lost in mass industry-wide layoffs in 2024, many have expressed concerns that artificial intelligence was also a factor. “We should use generative AI to help people do their jobs faster and not lose them,” one employee wrote.
Layoffs, the history of the industry for several years, are still a huge problem. “Survive until age 25,” the mantra of struggling programmers, has hardly helped those who have lost their jobs. The study shows that every tenth developer has been dismissed over the last year. There was also an escalate in “not applicable” responses: “the question was not applicable because they had already been laid off or were otherwise unemployed. In other words, it wasn’t a concern now because somehow it had already happened to them.