GDC report for game industry reveals 1 out of 10 game dev were laid off in 2024

The 2025 State of the Game Industry by Game Developers Conference (GDC) has laid out stats for the last 12 months of the video game industry. While the gamers may have had a great year, the report reveals that the developers did not. The GDC survey features over 3,000 game developers and industry professionals and found 1 out of 10 developers were laid off in 2024.

Industry-wide layoffs were one of the biggest topics, with almost half of the developers feeling the impact in some way or another. 2024 was also the same, with even more job cuts due to several reasons. As per the report, around 14,000 people were impacted in the last 12 months.

When asked, the developers called out multiple reasons, including restructuring, declining revenue, and marketing shifts. There are also a lot of factors going on behind the scenes, including mismanagement and higher expectations from each game release set by the gaming community. Together, these create some harsh conditions.

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PC game development leads the market

Despite all the chaos, the PC gaming market still leads in terms of game development. The report also revealed that 80% of the developers in the survey were developing games for PC. The number for the previous year was 66%, revealing a massive surge in PC game development.

The main reason listed for this was Valve’s handheld device, ‘Steam Deck’. The option wasn’t specifically provided but 44% of those who selected other reasons revealed that the handheld device was the most influencing factor. This was likely due to the popularity of the online marketplace Steam and how the handheld allowed gamers to play anywhere. More companies are moving towards the development of similar devices.