Survey Of Game Devs Shows They Think Triple-A Games Can Still Be Successful With Just The Good Old Box Price

This past Sunday, game developers gathered in Cologne, Germany ahead of Gamescom for Devcom 2024. The event featured 100 speakers who took part in a survey regarding various topics in game development, such as the use of AI and monetization. The developers answered the survey and the results were interesting – although, perhaps not shocking.

Looking at the survey, it’s easy to see how answers to one question might impact another. For instance, in the discussion of AI, while 31% of devs prefer minimal usage, 21% think it should be used for code and production, and 18% for marketing and communication. Some even believe it will be used to replace human translation and localization teams within the next two years. (We hope not. Google Translate has been around for years and is still questionable at the best of times.) When these answers are taken into account, it’s easy to see where 57% of respondents would anticipate layoffs continuing or even increasing in the next year.

Two other questions might be of more interest to players. These are regarding the preferred business model for games and the financial viability of triple-A games. As it turns out, contrary to what trends in both areas have been telling us for a while, a majority of developers (65%) favor physical premium games. There was one developer who favored free-to-play with ads.

In addition, 89% of those who took part in the survey feel that triple-A games can be successful as pure buy-to-play offerings. Meaning microtransactions aren’t necessary for a game to be successful. Go figure.