The GDC Festival of Gaming’s annual industry survey shows more developers are turning to generative AI. Forty percent of respondents say they use AI as part of their job, up from 36 percent in 2025. Usage is highest among free‑to‑play studios (58%) and mobile‑only teams (70%). Most developers use AI for research and brainstorming (73%) and for code generation or debugging (56%). The same survey notes that 34% of respondents have been laid off in the past two years.
Why it matters
Studios can now rely on smaller teams to build game worlds, potentially lowering development costs.
