While generative AI is being adopted at various levels of game development, a new survey shows that developers increasingly think the technology is bad for the industry. According to the Game Developers Conference’s most recent survey, 52 percent of respondents said Gen AI is having a “negative” impact on the game industry, while only 7 percent viewed the technology as “positive.” Perhaps most striking is how negative attitudes have grown over the years: In 2024, only 18 percent of those surveyed viewed technology as negative, and in 2025 that number rises to 30 percent. Now it has increased to more than half.
GDC surveyed 2,300 “game industry professionals” to obtain these results, and the demographics are predominantly male (64 percent), white (67 percent), and based in the United States (54 percent). Organizers acknowledge that this makeup is “far from truly representing the global community, and we know more work is needed.” (You can check Full report here.)
However, the results still provide some fascinating insights into how actual developers feel about AI, with leaders from major publishers like EA and Crafton advocating its virtues (and as Larian has had to clarify how it is using the technology). As far as how much Next Generation AI is actually being used in the industry, 36 percent of those surveyed said they use it as part of their jobs, while 64 percent said they don’t. The majority of people using Gen AI said they use the technology for research and brainstorming (81 percent) as well as administrative tasks like email (47 percent). But few admitted to using AI for more development-oriented tasks, including prototyping (35 percent), testing or debugging (22 percent), and asset creation (19 percent). Only 5 percent of that group said they use General AI on “player-facing features.”
The second major theme raised in the survey was the continued layoffs and studio closures that have ravaged the industry over the past few years. In the 2025 survey, one in 10 developers said they had been laid off within the past year. This year, the numbers were similar, with 17 percent of respondents saying they had been laid off from a job in the past 12 months, while 28 percent had been laid off within the past two years. Naturally, this created an atmosphere of uncertainty; 23 percent of those surveyed said they expect more layoffs next year, while 30 percent are unsure.
According to the GDC, the survey also questioned some people from the educational sector – more than 100 teachers and 50 students – and not surprisingly, the outlook is not very positive. 60 percent of those surveyed said they expect the current state of the industry to make it difficult for new students to find jobs. An anonymous teacher in Michigan said, “Most of my students will not have careers in game development.”
GDC kicks off this year in San Francisco on March 9, and it’s likely these two issues will be a major theme throughout.
