PlayStation 5 leads the consoles for attracting game developer interest but nothing comes close to overall PC popularity
The GDC, which is holding a hybrid event in San Francisco and online July 19-23, has released the 2021 State of the Game Industry report that is packed full of polls and results taken from over 3,000 game developers. One of the questions asked to the game industry veterans was about which platform they were most interested in at the moment, with multiple choices allowed. The PlayStation 5 was the most popular choice out of the consoles, with 44% of those polled selecting it as an interesting platform. But the PC was king, with 58% choosing it as the most interesting.
The Nintendo Switch was the third most popular platform here with 38% while the Xbox Series X|S had to settle for 30%. PS5 also led the consoles for the poll in regard to current project work, but at least this time the spoils were more fairly shared with Microsoft’s new consoles, with figures of 27% (PS5) and 24% (Xbox Series X|S), respectively. The Nintendo Switch was much lower down here, at 17%, which could be an indication that things are slowly winding down for that particular platform with the possible introduction of a Switch 2 or Switch Pro incoming later this year. The figure for the PC stood at 58% again.
Lastly on this theme, developers shared what platform/s their next project will be utilizing, which was also headed by the PC on 53%. Android and iOS beat out the current-gen consoles, showing the strength of mobile gaming, and there is still plenty of interest for work on both the PS4 (14%) and Xbox One (15%). However, Google Stadia only garnered 4% and PlayStation Now was even lower on 3%. As GDC points out, “significantly more developers are showing interest in PS5”, but it would be practically a fool’s errand to leave out the PC when it comes to game development.
