Game developers remain skeptical of metaverse and blockchain projects | GDC survey

Game developers are more skeptical of metaverse and blockchain projects, according to a new Game Developers Conference survey.

In some ways, it was not a surprising result. Metaverse and blockchain hype increased a couple of years ago, but skepticism increased a lot over the past year as economic dormancy set in and early projects failed to result in sustainable hits.

“So much happened during 2022 for ups and downs, and I know crypto had a lot of problems in the middle of the year as well,” Alissa McAloon, publisher of Gamedeveloper.com, said in an interview with GamesBeat.

She noted that it’s not surprising to see the hype die down. In this sense, the skeptical view of the metaverse and the blockchain is not so different from the view of virtual reality, after the skepticism set in after a few years of hype.

“A lot of developing technologies ebb and flow, and then we see where things settle afterwards. VR is a good indicator of that,” said McAloon.

McAloon helped figure out the questions for this year’s survey to ensure the report zeroed in on key questions. She said some of the questions were open-ended, allowing developers to offer more nuanced answers. She said blockchain technology seemed to be touted as having some utility, but exactly what that is isn’t clear.

GDC’s 2023 State of the Game Industry Survey drew responses from 2,300 game developers that also showed changing attitudes toward working in an office, as well as steady support for unionization. And more than 90% of developers saw harassment and toxicity towards developers from fans as a problem for the industry. The survey took place in October.

The 11th annual survey was released ahead of GDC 2023, which will be held in person at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center from March 20 to March 24. This event is expected to draw around 24,000 attendees – up from 12,000 last year, but short of a record crowd.

Two thirds of the respondents have worked with game development for three to 20 years. The results of the survey have a margin of error of +/-3% at a 99% confidence level, and provide a snapshot of the growing (and fading) trends in game development leading up to GDC 2023.

Developers pointed to Fortnite as a likely metaverse winner, although many remain skeptical that it will even be a metaverse.

When asked which company is best positioned to deliver on the promise of the metaverse, Epic Games/Fortnite received 14% of the vote, the highest of any individual company. Next was Meta/Horizon
Worlds and Microsoft/Minecraft (with 7% each), Roblox (5%) and Google and Apple (3% each), with VRChat
and Nvidia also receives some mentions.

However, developers are wary. Almost half (45%) of the respondents did not choose any companies/
platforms, saying instead that the metaverse concept will never live up to its promise. This number is
up from 33% in 2022, with many of the responses from this year specifically citing the unclear definition
of the concept, the lack of significant interactivity and the high cost of hardware (VR headset i
in particular) as barriers to sustainable metaverse experiences.

Studio interest in blockchain technology did not grow in the past year. This year, 23% of developers said their studios have expressed some interest in using blockchain technology – including cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFT) and Web3 – to support their games. This figure represents a slight decrease from the 27% of 2022 respondents who expressed interest in cryptocurrency and the 28% who expressed interest in NFTs.

Only about 2% of this year’s respondents said their studios are already using blockchain technology in their projects.

Looking into the future, about 17% of developers said they are in favor of using blockchain technology in
games, while 61% said they were against. About 25% of respondents said they were unsure or had no answer
opinion. Developers’ attitudes toward the technology appear to be fairly consistent on the subject, as two-thirds of participants on both sides of the issue said they had not changed their minds about
blockchain over the past year.

Most respondents are indies

This year, the survey sought to determine how many responding developers work for indie or triple-A studios, or whether they are independent contractors or freelancers. The results of the survey indicate that 39% of respondents work for an indie studio, while 23% work for a triple-A studio. A fifth of respondents had written answers for their own company descriptions, with descriptions that included e-commerce,
charity work, university programs and double-A studios.

The survey found that hybrid work schedules are on the rise, while remote work appears to be here to stay.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses continue to examine how the past few years have been
affected employees and their needs in the workplace. In many parts of the world, remote work is non-existent
longer considered an essential health measure, and many workplaces are moving to return to
office while others still work from home.

“We wanted to dig into what a game development studio looks like nowadays because there are a lot of differences,” McAloon said. “It’s not as simple whether you work for an indie studio or you work for a triple-A studio anymore.”

A quarter of game developers surveyed said they primarily work remotely with the option of going into the office, marking a slight decline from 29% in 2022. Hybrid work schedules, where workers split their time between remote and in-office, saw the biggest the increase (17% this year, up from 11% in 2022).

Trade union support is strong

Amid recent news that Microsoft’s ZeniMax Studios QA team has successfully formed a union, this year’s survey reflects continued support for the effort to organize. With 53% support in this year’s survey (close to 55% in 2022), a majority of developers surveyed expressed support for unionization.

Beyond that, more than a fifth (22%) of developers said they or their colleagues have actively
discussed unionism at work.

“I think it’s not very surprising since it’s consistent with what we’ve seen through social media,” McAloon said.

She noted that those who had been in the industry for less than 15 years were more likely to be in favor of a union, versus those who had been in the industry for longer.

Developers cite salary, company culture and telecommuting as the main factors for considering a job change. This year’s response appears to be consistent with the growing talk of “the great resignation,” a phenomenon characterized by large numbers of employees switching companies in the hope of better pay and benefits, the report says.

This trend appears to hold true among the game developers surveyed, with more than half of them stating that in the past year they have either changed the companies they work for (16%) or are thinking about doing so (36 %). . Among those who said they have changed companies or are thinking about it, the leading motivations include salary, company culture, ability to work on a specific project/franchise, work-life balance and having remote work policies.

Toxicity and harassment of players

About 91% of game developers said that player harassment and toxicity is a problem in the industry. For years, developers have spoken at GDC about the cost of not responding to toxic behavior from select players, including harassment and threats. Developers seem to be heeding the warning signs of this negative behavior, and many studios are taking steps to deal with harassment.

“This is a huge issue in the industry and we wanted to know what companies are doing to support their teams,” McAloon said.

The vast majority of respondents believe that player toxicity and harassment are a major problem. Men surveyed were less likely to say they experienced or witnessed harassment than women or non-binary
people, and respondents were more likely to say that they experienced or witnessed harassment if they
identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community.

In many cases, the harassment problem has become widespread enough in the past year to warrant official company responses, with studios of all sizes denouncing harassment of their employees by
players. To dig further into this topic, the survey asked respondents who had experienced or witnessed
harassment if their companies had addressed the issue.

About two-thirds (68%) said their companies have addressed the harassment they have experienced or witnessed – either internally (30%), externally (4%) or both (34%). A fifth said no, while 11% were unsure.

Accessibility efforts in games maintain steadily growing support

With the recent announcement of PlayStation’s Project Leonardo accessibility controls on
CES 2023 show in Las Vegas, it appears the industry as a whole is making an effort to address accessibility, and participants in this year’s survey (which was asked ahead of Sony’s announcement – ​​which followed the launch of the Xbox Adaptive Controller in 2018) echoed that feeling in their answers.

Continuing an upward trend seen over previous surveys, the prioritization of accessibility features in the game
development is now more common than not. When asked if their current games implement accessibility
target for those with sensory, motor or other impairments, 38% of respondents said yes, which retained
in line with previous years.

However, the number who said no (32%) continued to decline, down from 36% in 2022. This is the second year in a row that affirmative responses outweighed the negative, suggesting that accessibility efforts are becoming more of a core design value among studios and developers.

PC still leads game development

Every year, the survey asks game developers which platforms they have developed games for, and which platforms they will develop for in the near future. PC again leads for current (65%) and next (57%) games in development, with PlayStation 5 next with 33%, compared to 28% for Xbox Series X/S.

About 25% choose Android, compared to 24% for iOS. About 19% are making their next game for Nintendo Switch, 16% for Mac, 12% for VR and 11% for the web. About 7% make games for the Xbox cloud, while 5% make AR games and 1% make user-generated content games. That last one seems very low, given the popularity of Roblox, but that could mean that GDC’s survey isn’t reaching the types of developers who are more like homegrown creators. Unfortunately, less than 1% said they developed games for Google Stadia, which has been shut down.

“My heart goes out to them,” McAloon said.

The entire survey, which includes more insight into the game development community’s thoughts on these
topics and a host of other facts and details, can be downloaded for free here.