PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, VR: What do developers prefer?
PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, VR
3000 developers had to respond to a survey commissioned during the GDC. The full report of this survey is available here, in English. Here is a summary:What platform (s) are you most interested in as a developer at the moment? (Choose all suitable platforms) 58%: PC 44%: PS5 38%: Nintendo Switch 30%: Xbox Series X / S 27%: VR headsets 27%: iOS 27%: Android 15%: AR headsets 13%: Xbox One / One X We also find the Mac, PS4 / PS4 Pro and web browser platforms that interest 12% of developers, 8% are interested in xCloud, 6% by Google Stadia, which is as much as Linux, when only 4% of they find interest in the PS Now.
Like every year, the PC is the core platform for developers. The PS5 is in pole position in the console market, with a substantial lead over the Switch, but even more so over the Xbox Series. We note that virtual and augmented reality headsets are of more interest to developers than consoles of the PS4 Pro / Xbox One X generation.
On which platform (s) did your last project been published? (Choose all suitable platforms) 58%: PC 35%: iOS 34%: Android 26%: PS4 / PS4 Pro 24%: Xbox One / One X 17%: Mac 14%: Nintendo Switch 14%: Web browser 12 %: VR headsets 9%: PS5 9%: Xbox Series X / S Here we can clearly see that the Switch is lagging behind on all its direct competing platforms (PC, iOS, Android, PS4 and Xbox One), among the projects previous developers. We also note that the lack of installation of new generation machines (at present) is evident in view of these figures.
On which platform (s) are you developing your current project? (Choose all suitable platforms) 58%: PC 32%: iOS 31%: Android 27%: PS5 24%: Xbox Series X / S 22%: PS4 / PS4 Pro 21%: Xbox One / One X 18%: Mac 17%: Nintendo Switch 11%: Web browser 10%: VR headsets Here, it is quite surprising to see that the Switch has fewer projects in development than the Mac platform. It can also be noted that the gap between the number of game projects in development for Xbox Series and the number of projects on PS4 / Xbox One is not yet very large. It is obviously still the beginning of a generation. The PC, iOS and Android platforms prove, as in the previous survey, that they are the platforms where we develop the most projects.
On which platform (s) will you develop your next project ? (Choose all suitable platforms) 53%: PC 31%: iOS 31%: Android 30%: PS5 25%: Xbox Series X / S 19%: Nintendo Switch 16%: Mac 15%: Xbox One / One X 14 %: PS4 / PS4 Pro 11%: Web browser 11%: VR headsets Once again, the ease of developing on PC, iOS and Android and the much lower restrictions on the stores of these platforms give them a definite advantage. We can note the rather surprising gap of 5% more developers who want to develop their next project on PS5 compared to the Xbox Series. Once again, the Mac, a platform rarely associated with gaming, is shown in this ranking.
Among the other surveys of interest (we are not going to publish them all, find the complete survey at the beginning of this news), we can cite:
What VR / AR platform (s) are you most interested in as a developer at the moment? (Choose all suitable platforms) 52%: Oculus Quest 28%: PlayStation VR 28%: Valve Index 26%: HTC Vive 25%: Oculus Rift 20%: iOS tablets and smartphones using ARKit 16%: Windows Mixed Reality 20 headsets %: Magic Leap One 15%: Other Where does your funding come from? (Choose all the platforms that are suitable) 51%: Existing company funds 30%: Personal funds 17%: External editor 10%: Venture capital 9%: Government funds 9%: Angel investors (also called Business angels, one person individual investor in the capital of an innovative company, at an early stage of creation or at the start of activity) 6%: Holders of video game platforms (Apple Arcade, Xbox Game Pass, etc.) 4 %: Alpha funding (early access on Steam, etc ...) 10%: Other Are you worried that paid subscription services (Xbox Game Pass, Google Stadia Pro, EA Play ...) devalue individual game prices ? Yes: 21% No: 30% Maybe: 26% Not sure: 22% Approximately what percentage of your income do you receive from the following platforms? Share of your income / Platform 0% 1 - 49% 50 - 99% 100% PC / Mac / Linux 30% 26% 12% 21% Nintendo Switch 73% 22% 2% 1% PlayStation 61% 25% 3% 3% Xbox 65% 27% 2% 0% iOS 43% 23% 15% 2% Android 43% 27% 7% 4% Others 65% 10% 6% 17% We note that 21% of developers receive all of their income PC / Mac / Linux platforms, when 0% of them only receive Xbox platforms (probably since Xbox no longer has exclusives). We also note that 73% of developers do not receive any income from Switch, which means that 73% simply do not develop on this platform (61% for PlayStation and 65% for Xbox).
A similar poll about PC launchers can be found in the report. By the way, in a related subject:
In your opinion, what is the justifiable amount that the digital store that sells your game should receive (Steam, Epic Games Store, App Store)? 8%: Less than 5% 11%: 5% 23%: 10% 20%: 15% 9%: 20% 2%: 25% 3%: 30% 3%: More than 30% 22%: Don't know , not sure What is your average working time per week during the last twelve months, on a video game? 17%: 0-20 hrs / week 5%: 21-25 hrs / week 5%: 26-30 hrs / week 5%: 31-35 hrs / week 24%: 36-40 hrs / week 21%: 41- 45 h / wk 12%: 46-50 h / wk 5%: 51-55 h / wk 3%: 56-60 h / wk 4%: More than 60 h / wk We will obviously note here that there is more developers who work more than 60 hours a week, than developers working between fifty-six hours and sixty hours. In other surveys, we note that only 21% of developers surveyed have never worked more than 40 hours in a week during the year (9% have already worked more than 81 hours in a week). Of the remaining 79%, all worked at least one week in the year 41 hours or more. Of these, 73% say it was personal pressure that caused them to lengthen their days.
We will let you discover the rest of this annual GDC study by following this link.
To read also:
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