The Game Developers Conference, now rebranded as the GDC Festival of Gaming, has released its 2026 State Of The Game Industry survey, revealing a broad range of insights from professionals across different sectors.

The survey was run by GDC operator Informa in partnership with research firm Omadia, supported by the editorial team at Informa outlet Game Developer. It was completed by 2,300 industry professionals, a 23% drop YoY which GDC’s Beth Elderkin attributed to launching later in the year as a consequence of the event’s controversial rebrand. 62% of respondents work at game companies or studios, with 45% of those at independent studios, 31% at AAA studios, 18% at AA studios, and 6% at co-development studios.

Layoffs remained a significant issue, with 28% of respondents having experienced a layoff in the last two years, raising to 33% for developers within the United States. 17% had been laid off in the last 12 months, compared to 11% the previous year and 7% for the 2024 survey. Elderkin pointed that the true figure could be even higher because some respondents could have been laid off multiple times during the period.

Game designers, including narrative designers, were worst hit, with 20% losing their jobs, while those in business operations and services suffered the least at 8%. 48% of those who had been laid off have not found another job yet. Those at AAA studios were more likely to have encountered layoffs, with two-thirds saying their company had undergone them, compared to only a third of indie studios. Of the students who responded to the survey, 74% were concerned about their future job prospects in the game industry due to layoffs.

Unionisation interest rising

Perhaps relatedly, interest in joining a union has increased. The survey only polled US respondents due to differing international legislation, but 82% of those supported unionization for game industry workers, with 5% opposed and 13% are unsure. The question structure was updated for the 2026 survey so a direct comparison can’t be made to last year. Support for unionisation was highest among workers earning under $200,000 a year (87%), those who’d been laid off during the past two years (88%), and people younger than 45 years old (86%). No 18 to 24-year-olds were opposed to unionization.

For the first time the survey asked recipients if they were members of a union: 2% said that they were part of a company-specific union, 10% were part of an industry-wide union, and 62% were not in a union but interested in joining one.

AI use grows, but so does backlash

36% of respondents said that they used AI in their work, although uptake varied between disciplines. Those at game studios reported using AI tools (30%) less than those at publishing companies, support teams, and marketing/PR firms (58%). Business professionals usage at 58% far outweighs most other job disciplines. 47% of upper management reported using AI tools, while only 29% of more junior positions reported doing so. Studio directors sat in the middle, with 36% reporting AI usage.

The sentiment against generative AI continues to rise: 52% of the respondents said that generative AI was having a negative impact on the industry, a steady increase from 30% in the 2025 survey and 18% in 2024. Workers in visual and technical arts (64%), game design and narrative (63%), and game programming (59%) were most strongly opposed.

7% of respondents said generative AI was having a positive impact on the game industry, down from 13% in 2025. Of that group, the support was highest for executives and those in business operations and services (19% each). Analysis of all responses showed some support for using AI tools for non-creative tasks like code assistance or prototyping, but 30% of the responses were opposed to using AI tools in any capacity, citing data sourcing, energy consumption, and the risk of AI replacing jobs.

Unreal outpaces Unity

New for this year was a clear development lead for Unreal Engine, which 42% of recipients listed as the primary engine used for game development vs 30% on Unity. Elderkin said this could be due to a change in survey methodology, which meant that the question was only presented to those who said they worked in development roles.

Unreal Engine adoption was higher AA (59%) and AAA (47%) studios, along with newer indies at 41%. 54% of developers at older indie studios are still using Unity. There was a higher use of Unity by those making free-to-play games (38%) compared to premium games (28%). Godot was being used by 11% of newer indie developers but less so at more established studios.

The full survey can be downloaded from the GDC website.