State of Game Industry survey sheds light on layoffs, GenAI views, unionization and tariffs | GDC survey

The organizers of GDC Festival of Gaming have released the results of the 2026 State of the Game Industry Survey, offering insights into key game industry trends based on responses from more than 2,300 game industry professionals. In line with GDC’s broader transformation into the GDC Festival of Gaming, this year’s State of the Game Industry Survey has also expanded to better serve the full game ecosystem.

To represent the thoughts and perspectives of the game industry across roles and disciplines, the GDC team consulted key stakeholders and community members to refine questions and broaden the survey’s reach.

Surveys were customized for each participant group, ensuring that developers, marketers, executives, investors and others answered questions most relevant to them. The team also surveyed a smaller group of game educators and students to capture a snapshot of the challenges facing the next generation.

The report, which can be downloaded for free here, provides the latest data and analysis on layoffs, generative AI adoption and sentiment, unionization efforts, development platforms and priorities, business pressures, emerging trends and more. Key insights from the report are below.

While the State of the Game Industry Report and the contents presented at GDC Festival of Gaming are created independently, the trends and sentiments within the report are often addressed at GDC, which features an entire content track dedicated to Career development, sessions dedicated to emerging AI technologies and hundreds of talks that deal with the most dynamic challenges and opportunities in the industry.

The GDC Festival of Gaming, a global gathering for the full game-making ecosystem, will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center and neighboring venues from March 9 – 13, 2026. For more details, please visit the official website.

Beth Elderkin, content marketing manager and project lead for State of the Game Industry Survey at GDC, said the survey has transformed just like GDC itself has changed to become the GDC Festival of Gaming.

“We really did some soul searching this year and looked at where we can grow how we can better represent the full game ecosystem and best give our respondents an opportunity to answer the questions that best fit their expertise,” Elderkin said.

GDC hired and and worked with an outside consultant who is intimately familiar with state of the game industry.

“We also we changed our platform so that we could actually make it more customizable,” she said. “Depending on your job, discipline, who you are, what you do, and many different factors, where you live, whether or not you’re employed — those will determine what questions you get.”

So the surveys are customizable, and they were filled out by about 2,300 respondents from November 4 to December 5.

“Some of the biggest topics this year were around layoffs, generative AI and some other domestic and international topics,” Elderkin said.

The survey is so different that it avoids year-on-year comparisons.

For this year, the survey had about two-thirds being men, a quarter women, and 8% non-binary, and that was similar to the past couple of years. About 28% identified as LGBTQ+. About 39% of those 18 to 24 identify as LGBTQ+. These are increases from previous years. The survey also asked about history of GDC attendance.

Layoffs Generate Wide Impact; Students Are Concerned About Their Future Job Prospects

The effects of recent layoffs continue to spread across the industry. Over one in four (28%) survey respondents were laid off in the past two years, increasing to one-third (33%) for those in the United States, and half said their current (or most recent) employer has conducted layoffs in the past 12 months. Those at AAA studios were highly likely to have experienced layoffs at their companies; two-thirds of respondents at AAA studios said their companies had layoffs. One-third of people working at indie studios reported the same.

The smaller survey of students illustrates widespread pessimism among future developers and leaders eager to enter the space. Three-fourths (74%) of surveyed students said they are concerned about their future job prospects in the game industry. Students noted the lack of entry-level jobs, increased competition from laid-off workers with more experience and AI-led displacement.

“As we’ve seen in the past couple of years, the industry has faced a lot of challenges, and there have been talks and hopes or even promises of a course correction, but we have not seen that yet,” Elderkin said.

The team asked if people had been laid off in the past two years, and if the respondent’s company had had layoffs and more such questions.

“What we found was that in the past 12 months, 17% of our respondents reported experienced a layoff, and then 11% reported experiencing one the year prior, which does match with our 2025 data. So combined, that means 28% of our respondents, and that increases to 33% for our U.S.-based respondents, have experienced a layoff in the past two years.”

Also, half of total respondents said their current or most recent employer had conducted layoffs, whether or not they were personally impacted.

“This went higher for those at triple-A studios, where two-thirds of respondents at triple-A studios said that their companies had undergone layoffs. That was compared to a third of those at indie studios.

However, those who work at indie studios were more likely to report that they personally have been impacted and been laid off, as opposed to someone at a triple-A studio.


It’s Full Steam (Deck) Ahead; More Developers Use Unreal than Unity

Newly added to the 2026 survey, Valve’s Steam Deck is the fourth-most-developed-for platform among respondents, with 28% of developers making or optimizing games for the PC handheld. In addition, 40% of developers said they’re interested in making games for Steam Deck, putting it on par with the Nintendo Switch 2 (39%). For future game development, PC continues to reign, with 73% of survey executives placing PC in their top 3 next-gen platform they’re most interested in.

Unreal Engine is the most popular engine among survey respondents. 42% of developers reported that it is their primary engine for game development, ahead of the next-most-popular engine, Unity, at 30%. Unreal Engine adoption appears to be more common for developers at double-A (59%) and triple-A (47%) studios. A majority (54%) of developers at older indie studios are still using Unity. Godot has gained some use with newer indie developers (11%), but less so with those at more established studios. 

As far as game engines go, 42% of respondents said that they use Unreal and 30% use Unity.

“This was the first time we actually saw this discrepancy, because in previous years, they were kind of at a stalemate. But to be perfectly honest, we are not entirely sure if that’s actually indicating a change or it’s just because of the focus of the question,” Elderkin said.

Generative AI Usage Varies Significantly Based on Role and Discipline

Survey results indicate that over one-third (36%) of game industry professionals are using generative AI tools as part of their job. 30% of respondents at game studios reported using AI tools, which is far less than the 58% of those at publishing companies, support teams, and marketing/PR firms that reported to use AI tools. Business professionals’ use (58%) far outweighs that of most other disciplines.

Sentiment from game Industry professionals reveal that they often balance the use of multiple AI tools for multiple purposes, rather than relying on a single platform or use. The most used AI tool for game industry professionals are large language models (LLMs)—mainly ChatGPT (74%), followed by Google Gemini (37%) and Microsoft Copilot (22%). The most common use is research or brainstorming (81%), followed by daily tasks (like writing emails) and code assistance (47% each), and prototyping (35%).

Opinions on Generative AI Hit a New Low; Over Half of Game Industry Professionals Think it’s Bad for the Industry

According to this year’s survey, over half (52%) of game industry professionals think generative AI is having a negative impact on the game industry, up from 30% last year and 18% the year prior. Workers in visual and technical art (64%), game design and narrative (63%), and game programming (59%) hold the most unfavorable views. About 7% of respondents think generative AI is having a positive impact on the game industry, down from 13% in GDC’s 2025 report. That amount is higher for executives, and those in business operations and services (19% each).

Elderkin said AI is a complicated subject, and the audience has a complicated relationship with it.

Similar to last year, about 36% of respondents said that they use generative AI tools, which was tracked with last year’s results.

This year, the survey asked what tools they’re using and what they use them for. ChatGPT came in at the highest, followed by other LLMs. They said they used the tools for primary research, brainstorming, things like writing emails, daily tasks, asset generation, procedural generation, and the actual creative content is used far less than the other more mundane tasks, Elderkin said.

Asked how they felt about generative AI, 52% of respondents said, generative AI is having a negative impact on the industry. That is an increase from 30% last year and 18% the year before, Elderkin said.

“So it has gone from a minority to a majority. And we also looked at it based on job discipline, what your income level is, where you know what your job title is, just to kind of get a sense of who is holding more favorable views versus less favorable views,” Elderkin said.

That data is in the report.
Majority of Game Workers Would Like to Join a Union

82% of US-based respondents support the unionization of game industry workers, with 5% opposed and 13% unsure. Support was higher among workers earning under $200,000 per year (87%), those who have been laid off in the past two years (88%) and people younger than 45 (86%). No respondents aged 18-24 were opposed to unionization.

One-tenth (10%) of respondents said they’re members of an industry-wide union like the United Videogame Workers-CWA (which was launched at GDC in 2025), and 2% are members of a company union. These numbers may rise in the coming years, though, as 62% of game industry professionals said they were interested in joining a union.

One-Third of Game Workers Primarily Turn to Self Funding

Over one-third (35%) of respondents said they mainly turn to self-funding for their games. The other primary sources of funding were publishing deals or project-based funding (20%), co-development contracts (9%), and private investment or venture capital (5% each). About 16% were unsure or said the question didn’t apply to them, with several noting that their games are not currently monetized.

US-Based Tariffs Impact 38% of Industry Business Leaders

In 2025, the US government’s executive branch imposed a series of tariffs on imported goods, including video game hardware and the components needed to manufacture it. Over 200 industry executives, investors, and business and finance professionals were asked whether the tariffs have taken a toll. About 38% of respondents said US-based tariffs are impacting their expenses, revenue, or financial decisions; 39% said there’s been no impact, and 23% were unsure. The numbers were similar for those inside and outside the United States.

Marketers Leaning Primarily on Social Media Video for Discovery

Social media (65%) is the primary discovery method for game marketers—and in that world, video reigns supreme. Their top social media platforms are Instagram/Reels (66%), TikTok (64%), and YouTube/Shorts (63%). Other top discovery methods include streamers (39%), paid advertising (31%), and in-person or virtual events (30%).

Marginalized Workers More Likely to Spot DEI Changes on the Job

For currently employed people in the United States, one-fifth (22%) of LGBTQ+ and 18% of women and non-White participants said they’ve noticed changes related to diversity and equity issues or free speech. However, only 10% of men and 13% of White respondents reported the same. Altogether, 14% have seen changes, 63% said they have not, and 23% were unsure.

About GDC Festival of Gaming

GDC Festival of Gaming is the world’s largest professional game industry event with market-defining content for programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision makers and others involved in the development of interactive games and immersive experiences. GDC brings together the global game industry community year-round through events and digital media, including GDC Vault, GameDeveloper.com, Independent Games Festival, and the Game Developers Choice Awards.

GDC is organized by Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and one of the leading B2B Events organizers in the world. To learn more and for the latest news and information visithttp://www.informa.com/https://www.informa.com/.

The team also surveyed educators and students for the first time to understand their situations.

About 75% of them said they’re concerned about their future job prospects, noting things like a lack of entry-level jobs, increased competition from people who have been laid off, and some who have experienced AI-led displacement.

One of the results of this was that GDC decided to increase the amount of career content that it had.

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