Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming

GDC survey shows crypto, NFTs not popular among game makers

Emily Morrow
By

The Game Developers Conference has released the results of the 10th annual State of the Industry survey, revealing the opinions of more than 2,700 people who work in and around games. It includes insight into how developers are responding to gaming topics like NFTs, the metaverse, and the industry’s toxicity crisis.

NTF: Non-fungible token Illustration
Marina Funt/Getty Images

The survey, which has been around for a decade now, is releasing its results just before this year’s GDC conference, which will take place later this year in March. The survey polls games professionals on their thoughts on everything from workplace harassment to NFTs to the emerging idea of the metaverse, and the results were enlightening.

Recommended Videos

According to highlights from a GDC press release, more game studios than ever are taking steps to combat workplace toxicity. 38% of State of the Industry respondents said that their company took the initiative and “start[ed] a conversation” about how harassments and toxicity in the workplace are handled within the industry. Though the other 62% of respondents said that their company took no action, the numbers still signal that developers are thinking more about how to make their workplaces better for everyone involved, particularly in the wake of very public lawsuits at companies like Activision Blizzard.

Related

Despite the constant chatter and flow of news around cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens, 72% of game developers said that neither they nor their studios are interested in integrating crypto payments into their games. 70% said the same of NFTs. Only 1% of respondents said that their studio currently uses either crypto or NFTs, showing that widespread adaptation within games is still a long way off.

Developers seem to feel similarly about the metaverse, with 83% of developers saying that they are not involved in the development of content and experiences for user-generated content platforms like Roblox and Minecraft. Content creation for these two titles is some of the more popular current expressions of the metaverse.

While PC is still the most popular platform to develop for — 63% of developers are working on a PC game this past year — PlayStation is beating out Xbox as the most popular console for developers to make games for. Every year since the second year of the survey, more developers have been working on PlayStation games than Xbox titles: last year, 31% of developers were working on a PS5 title, while 29% were working on an Xbox Series X/S title.

On the smaller side, 20% of developers were working on a Switch title, a number that’s risen significantly since the days of the Wii U and 3DS. 30% of developers were working on a game for phones or mobile devices, down from 55% in 2013. New platforms are still met with uncertainty among many developers. 47% are unsure that the Steam Deck will be a viable platform in the long run.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Emily Morrow
Emily Morrow
Emily Morrow is a games journalist and narrative designer who has written for a variety of online publications. If she’s…
Best PS5 SSD deals: Add more storage to your PS5 from $120
A 2TB WD Black

When the PlayStation 5 was originally released, it had the option to expand its internal memory, which was quite small at the time at a little under 900GBs. Of course, the issue is that there weren't any SSDs that worked on the new standard the PS5 was using, so even if you wanted to upgrade, you couldn't. Luckily, since then, there have been a lot of great SSDs for the PS5 that have been released, and upgrading its storage is pretty easy and can be done by pretty much anybody, provided they have a screwdriver. So, whether you picked up a PS5 from one of the PS5 deals or already have a PS5 and want to upgrade, be sure to check out the SSDs that will work great for your PS5 below.
Our favorite PS5 SSD deal

It wasn't that long ago that you'd have to pay well over $100 to get an SSD for your PS5, and often, it'd be slower than the pricier alternatives. These days, you can buy a Samsung 980 Pro 1TB SSD with heatsink for just $120 from Best Buy, thereby saving $45 off the regular price of $165. The SSD offers speedy performance while also having its own nickel-coated high-end controller to help deliver effective thermal control. It means it won't overheat and performance won't be compromised. Being a PCIe Gen 4 SSD, you get twice the data transfer speed of PCIe Gen 3 which is useful. Offering maximum read speeds of 7,000 megabytes per second, it's a good upgrade to go alongside your existing hard drive with 1TB offering plenty of extra space at a shrewd price.

Read more
The Sims 5: release date speculation, trailers, gameplay, and more
sims 4 for rent expansion pack shared living the 6

It's time to brush up on your Simlish if it's rusty because the long-awaited The Sims 5, aka Project Rene, is officially on the way. This has been the longest gap between main entries since the series began, and while we did get tons of expansions for The Sims 4 to hold us over, plus the change to it becoming free to play, we're more than ready for a new entry. Each time a new game in the franchise comes out, die-hard fans always need to have a bit of skepticism about what features will be there -- both new and returning.

We can't answer all your questions yet, but here's everything we know about The Sims 5.
Release date speculation

Read more
VR headset deals: Meta Quest 2 and VIVE XR
htc vive vs pro headphones

While VR may not be as big as was predicted back in the early 2000s when the original Oculus Go was released, there is still a considerable market these days, and some great VR games like Half-Life: Alyx that you can have fun with. Of course, VR headsets remain expensive, and while options like the Meta Quest don't necessarily require a high-end gaming PC, they can still be a bit pricey for those who just want to put a foot in the hobby. Luckily, there are some good deals you can take advantage of, even on some of the best VR headsets, so be sure to check out all your options below.
Meta Quest 2 -- $199, was $200

Even though the Meta Quest 3 came out quite recently, the Meta Quest 2 is still a pretty powerful contender, especially since it has a wider library and app support than the Quest 3 currently has. Even more so, the Quest 2 is a lot cheaper than the Quest 3, and with the latest permanent discount down to just $200, that's a whole $300 or so difference from the Quest 3. Of course, the Quest 3 does have more advanced AR and slightly better performance with software and Wi-Fi, but that may not be worth the extra cost for some. Either way, be sure to check out the breakdown between Quest 2 and Quest 3 to get a better sense of what you should pick up.

Read more