GDC survey: 40% of game developers use generative AI at work
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The GDC Festival of Gaming annual industry survey shows that 40% of game developers say they use generative AI at work, up from 36% in 2025. Usage varies by role and sector: it is 58% among free-to-play game developers and reaches 70% among mobile studio employees; by use, 73% of respondents use it for research and brainstorming, 62% for data analysis and summarization, and 56% for code generation and debugging. The survey also shows that 34% of respondents say they experienced layoffs in the past two years.
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- The Verge · AIMore game developers are starting to use generative AI
The GDC Festival of Gaming's latest annual industry survey found that 40 percent of developers say they use generative AI as part of their job, up from 36 percent in 2025, with higher usage among free-to-play developers (58 percent) and mobile-only studio workers (70 percent). Respondents most often used AI for research and brainstorming (73 percent), data analysis and summarization (62 percent), and code generation and debugging (56 percent), while 22 percent used it for concept art and 8 percent for production art or final game assets. The survey also reported that 34 percent of respondents said they had been laid off sometime in the past two years.
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