Four in five game developers are currently working on a PC project, a significant increase from 66 percent of developers a year ago. That is according to Informa’s latest survey on the state of the gaming industrywhich partnered with Omdia to ask more than 3,000 gaming industry professionals about their work ahead of the Game Developers Conference in March.
The 80 percent of developers working on PC projects in this year’s survey is by far the highest mark for any platform dating back to at least 2018, when 60 percent of developers surveyed were working in a PC game. In the years since then, the proportion of game developers working on PC has hovered between 56 and 66 percent before this year’s unexpected jump. The number of game developers who claim to be interested PC usage as a platform also increased substantially, from 62 percent last year to 74 percent this year.
While PC has long been the most popular platform in this survey, the sudden jump in the last year was quite big.
Credit: Kyle Orland / Information
While PC has long been the most popular platform in this survey, the sudden jump in the last year was quite big.
Credit: Kyle Orland / Information
The PC has long been the most popular platform for developers to work on in the annual State of the Gaming Industry survey, easily surpassing consoles and mobile platforms that typically see active work between 12 and 36 percent. of the developers surveyed, depending on the year. . In its report, Informa notes that this increase is due to “the passion for PC development exploding[ing]” among developers, and mentions that while “the PC has consistently been the platform of choice… this year its dominance increased even more.”
The growing popularity of PC gaming among developers is also reflected in the number of individual game releases on Steam, which reached a record 18,974 individual titles by 2024. according to SteamDB. That record number is up more than 32 percent from 2023, up from just under 16 percent in 2022 (although many Steam games each year were “Limited Games” that didn’t meet Valve Minimum Engagement Metrics for badges and stickers).
The number of annual Steam releases also points to growing interest in the platform.
The Steam Deck effect?
While it’s difficult to identify a single reason for the sudden rise in popularity of PC game development, Informa speculates that it is “connected to the growing popularity of Valve’s Steam Deck.” While Valve only has officially recognized “several million” in portable hardware salesGameDiscoverCo analyst Simon Carless My dear that between 3 and 4 million Steam Deck units had been sold by October 2023, a significant increase from reports of 1 million Deck shipments in October 2022.