Photo Credit: Javier Peñas
Ahead of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), a survey about the state of the industry reveals little confidence in the future of the metaverse.
GDC 2023 is slated for March 20, 2023 in San Francisco, bringing game developers together to discuss trends and insights in the gaming market. A state of the industry survey sent to all attendees helps gauge how developers perceive growing and waning trends within the industry. 2,300 game developers were asked about their work within the industry—from game designers, engineers, sound designers, and more.
Participants were asked to identify which company they believe is in the best position to deliver on the “promise of the metaverse.” Of the companies currently working in the space, 14% answered Fortnite–but that’s the highest vote in favor. 45% of game developers chose no platform and responded that the metaverse concept would never deliver on its promise. GDC reports that’s an increase over the 33% of game developers who responded that way in 2022.
VR and AR development also appears to be losing ground this year compared to enthusiasm last year. Only 38% of respondents said they were working in VR/AR game development, which is down from 42% in 2022. The Meta Quest remains the top AR/VR platform for those game developers, with 35% making games for the platform. PlayStation VR closely follows the Meta Quest platform in interest, with 35% of developers interested in it.
Blockchain technology is also pretty contentious among game developers. 75% of respondents said they were not interested in incorporating any kind of blockchain technology in their games. Only 7% said they were very interested, while 16% voted for ‘somewhat interested.’ Only 2% of game developers responded they were actively incorporating the tech in a game they’re working on.
With many of the people who create games not interested in blockchain technology or a new metaverse—it paints an interesting picture. Mark Zuckerberg’s attempt at launching the metaverse has so far done nothing but generate meme-worthy material for social media. That’s hardly a billion-dollar pursuit worth continuing.