One in Four Laid Off, Half Against AI: What 2,300 Developers Told GDC in 2026

Every January, before thousands of developers fly to San Francisco, the organisers of the Game Developers Conference publish a survey of how the industry feels. In 2026, the headline was a single sentence: more than one in four respondents had been laid off in the past two years.

The 2026 State of the Game Industry report, the organisers' 14th annual survey, drew responses from more than 2,300 game professionals: developers, marketers, executives, investors and others, plus a smaller survey of teachers and students. It was published ahead of the renamed GDC Festival of Gaming, held from March 9 to 13, 2026, at San Francisco's Moscone Center and nearby venues, and organised by Informa.

Here are the findings that matter most for people who work in games, or want to.

The layoff numbers

• 28% of all respondents had been laid off in the past two years, and 33% of those based in the US.
• 50% said their current or most recent employer had made layoffs in the past 12 months.
• Two-thirds of respondents at AAA companies reported layoffs at their company, against one-third at indie studios.

The student survey was the bleakest part. 74% of students said they were worried about their job prospects in games, citing few entry-level roles, competition from experienced developers who had been laid off, and fear of being replaced by AI.

AI: more people use it, more people dislike it

Generative AI is the issue that divides the industry most, and the survey captured a striking shift.

36% of professionals said they used generative AI tools at work, rising to 58% at publishers, support companies and marketing or PR firms, but only 30% at game studios themselves. ChatGPT was the most-used tool (74% of users), ahead of Google Gemini (37%) and Microsoft Copilot (22%). The most common uses were research and brainstorming (81%), followed by everyday tasks and coding help (47% each).

At the same time, 52% said generative AI was having a negative impact on the industry, up from 30% a year earlier and 18% the year before that. Only 7% saw a positive impact, down from 13%. Artists were the most negative, at 64%, followed by designers and writers (63%) and programmers (59%). Executives were the most positive group, at 19%.

Unions and money

Unionisation has gone mainstream. 82% of US respondents supported unionising game workers and 5% opposed it. One in ten said they were already members of an industry-wide union such as United Videogame Workers-CWA, launched at GDC 2025. We cover that movement in our North American unions story.

On funding, 35% said they mainly paid for their own games, 20% relied on publishing deals, 9% on co-development contracts and 5% each on private investment or venture capital. Among executives and investors, 38% said US tariffs introduced in 2025 were affecting their costs, revenue or decisions.

Platforms and engines

• Unreal Engine is the main engine for 42% of developers and Unity for 30%. Unreal dominates at AA (59%) and AAA (47%) studios, while 54% of developers at older indie studios still use Unity. Godot is used by 11% of newer indie developers.
• Steam Deck, added to the survey for the first time, is the fourth most popular platform to develop for, at 28%. 40% were interested in making games for it and 39% for Nintendo Switch 2.
• 73% of executives put PC among their top three platforms for the next generation.

Why it matters

The survey describes an industry that is still shrinking in staff while its tools change underneath it. For Korean readers, much of it will sound familiar: NCSOFT's headcount fell by more than a third between 2024 and 2025, and entry-level hiring is the hardest part of the market. Our story on game industry salaries looks at what the people who keep their jobs are earning.

WGC's take: the most important number is not about layoffs or AI. It is the 74% of students who are worried. An industry that cannot offer young people a way in will pay for it in a decade. The next GDC survey arrives in early 2027, ahead of GDC 2027.