Survey suggests ‘passion for PC game development has exploded’
80% of developers surveyed by GDC are working on a PC game, and 8% are making a Switch 2 title
PC development is more dominant than ever, according to GDC’s annual State of the Game Industry survey.
As was the case a year ago, GDC‘s 2025 survey quizzed over 3,000 game developers about their working practices.
Topics covered include which platforms they’re currently making games for, and which ones they’re most interested in releasing games for in the future.
80% of respondents said they were currently developing PC games, which was up from 66% in the previous year’s survey, while 74% said the platform was of interest to them, which was up from 62%.
While the reason for these increases is unclear, GDC’s report suggests it could be linked to the popularity of Valve’s Steam Deck.
“This year’s survey didn’t single out Steam (or Valve’s handheld gaming computer) as its own platform, because it’s a hub for PC and Mac games,” it reads. “But it appears some developers do view it as a unique platform. For example, when asked to name other platforms that interest them, almost half (44%) wrote in Steam Deck.”
38% of developers said they’re currently making games for PS5, ahead of 34% for Xbox Series X/S, 29% for Android, 28% for iOS, 23% for Mac, and 20% for Nintendo Switch.
Further down the list, 8% of participants said they’re currently developing a game for the newly revealed Nintendo Switch 2, which is the same figure that was reported in last year’s survey.
Over one in 10 survey respondents also reported being laid off over the past year.
