The PS5 is leading developer interest when it comes to creating games on consoles, according to a survey at the Game Developers Conference (GDC).
The poll revealed that 44% of developers would like to develop games on PS5, while 30% said they’d be interested in making games for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. Nintendo Switch fared slightly better than Microsoft’s new consoles, with 38% saying Nintendo’s handheld console was an appealing platform.
Even though the result is a boon for Sony’s consoles – the more developers you can attract, the more games will end up on the platform – PC is still the most desirable place for developers to release their games, with 58% confirming that PC is the most interesting platform as a developer right now.
Unfortunately for Google Stadia, only 6% of developers were interested in the platform, with Microsoft’s Xbox Project xCloud (also known as Xbox Cloud Gaming) actually getting more interest from devs with 8%.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, more developers are interested in Xbox One and Xbox One X (13%) than developing for PS4 and PS4 Pro (12%). This may be down to the fact the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S handle backwards compatibility more seamlessly than PS5, but it's an interesting stat nonetheless.
When it comes to which platform developers are actually working on, the PC came out on top again with 58%, while PS5 just pipped Xbox Series X and S with 27% and 24% respectively. Nintendo Switch was lower than expected, with only 17% of devs using Nintendo’s platform to develop their current project.
VR in decline, Xbox Game Pass, and crunch
In a blow for VR and AR games, only 38% of respondents at GDC said they had been involved in VR or AR game development, which is down from 46% last year. It’s worth acknowledging, though, that this survey was conducted prior to the announcement of Sony’s next-generation PSVR 2 headset.
Other insights from GDC’s State of the Game Industry 2021 survey revealed that 21% of developers are concerned that paid subscription services, like Xbox Game Pass, EA Play and Google Stadia Pro, will devalue individual game prices. 26% said maybe, 30% said no, and 22% said they were unsure.
With crunch still a major concern for game developers, it’s encouraging that the majority of devs worked a standard 40 hour week (24%), however, extreme working conditions are still far too prevalent with 44% of those surveyed admitting to working more than 40 hours a week. Only 14% of those who did more than 40 hours a week blamed management pressure to be responsible, thankfully, with over 73% admitting their long working weeks were down to self-pressure.
There’s some more fascinating insights available for the GDC survey, and you can see more facts and details in the full survey, which can be downloaded for free here.
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