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GDC's 2024 State Of The Game Industry Targets Layoffs & AI Ussage
Layoffs, AI, switching engines, and more are the top subjects for the GDC's 2024 State Of The Game Industry survey, which is out now.
Article Summary
- GDC 2024 survey highlights rise in game industry layoffs, citing post-pandemic issues.
- 35% of game developers affected by job cuts, QA sector reports highest layoffs.
- 56% of respondents fear future layoffs, with some advocating for unionization.
- 84% of developers express ethical concerns about AI usage and potential job loss.
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) has released its 2024 State of the Game Industry Survey, and it is a grim report coming from those who took it. The biggest reports coming back from the survey focus ont he fact that the industry has pushed massive layoffs (some of which appear to have been unnecessary) and the growing concerns over the use of AI in gaming. Other topics include switching game engines, accessibility measures, social media, and RTO policies. We have a couple of snippets from the organization's report for you here, as you can read the full report by applying to access it off their website.
One-third of developers have been impacted by layoffs, and half are concerned there could be more
One-third of developers (35%) said they've been impacted by layoffs—either by having some layoffs take place within their team or company or by being laid off themselves. Quality assurance developers appear to have been hit the hardest, with 22% of them saying they were laid off this year (compared to 7% of all developers). Business and finance professionals reported the least layoffs (2%). Over half of respondents (56%) expressed some level of concern that their company could see layoffs in the next 12 months, while one-third said they weren't at all concerned. When asked to share their thoughts on the rise of layoffs in the game industry, many developers cited post-pandemic course correction, studio conglomeration, and economic uncertainty as possible explanations, and some expressed a desire for unionization to better protect workers. As a clarifying note, the State of the Games Industry Survey was conducted in October 2023 and as such, these survey results pre-date the latest wave of industry-wide layoffs that took place at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024.
Four out of five developers are worried about the ethical use of AI
When it comes to how Generative AI will impact the game industry as a whole, game makers appear to be mixed. Those working in business, marketing, and programming were more likely to say the technology would have a positive impact while those in narrative, visual arts, and quality assurance were more likely to say the impact would be negative. Even though many developers seem to be uncertain about the industry impact of Generative AI, they are quite certain about the ethical impact. A large majority (84%) of developers indicated they were somewhat or very concerned about the ethics of using Generative AI, while only 12% stated they had no concerns. Developers shared a range of potential issues regarding the technology. Some worried that Generative AI usage could lead to more layoffs at game companies, whereas others expressed concerns about how the tools could supercharge copyright infringement of intellectual property and whether AI toolmakers would train their models using data obtained without the creator's consent.
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