The eighth annual State of the Industry Survey, conducted by the Game Developers Conference, revealed that developers are already looking ahead to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, as they prepare for the arrival of the next-generation consoles later this year.
The survey, which compiled the answers of almost 4,000 respondents, revealed that over 10% of video game developers are currently making games for the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox Series X. Specifically, 11% of the surveyed developers said that they were working on a PlayStation 5 title, while 9% said that they have an Xbox Series X project.
The most popular platform among the surveyed developers was the PC, with 56% saying that they were working on a game for home computers, followed by 39% for mobile, then the current-generation consoles of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro at 25% and the Xbox One and Xbox One X at 23%.
When the respondents were asked on which platforms their next game will launch, 23% said the PlayStation 5 and 17% said the Xbox Series X. However, only 5% of the developers said that they will exclusively launch their next game for a next-generation platform, hinting that most of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X games in development will also be playable on their predecessors.
The Nintendo Switch, meanwhile, holds steady among the rumblings over the next-generation consoles of Sony and Microsoft. About 17% of the respondents in the survey said that their current project is for the Nintendo Switch, and 19% said that their next project will be for the hybrid console.
On the other hand, interest in developing games for Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Project xCloud has not picked up. Only 6% of the surveyed developers said that they were currently working on a project for Google Stadia, and an even lower 3% for Project xCloud. The percentages saw a slight increase for the question about their next project though, as 8% of the developers said that their next game will launch on Google Stadia and 6% said that their next project will roll out for Project xCloud.
The Game Developers Conference 2020 will run from March 16 to March 20 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. While it remains unknown if Microsoft will have already unveiled the Xbox Series X by then, there are rumors that Sony is planning to follow the PlayStation 4 timeline and reveal the PlayStation 5 in February.
