GDC Survey: More And More Developers Are Working On VR

A recent survey conducted by the Game Developers Conference revealed that 16% of all developers are working on VR projects for this year. Last year, the number was 9% (via VentureBeat).

The GDC’s annual state of the industry survey is meant to get a look at what developers are working on and why. The Game Developers Conference is an event that draws over 25,000 developers and press to San Francisco in March. The event will take place from March 14 to march 18 this year.

The survey is based off feedback from 2,000 game developers, and was organized by UBM Tech Game Network, GDC’s owner.  Simon Carless, a group executive vice president at UBM tech, said that VR has “grown fast” over the past year, and that more and more developers want to do it.

This increase in interest may be influenced by the major VR products scheduled to hit the market this year. You can already preorder the Oculus Rift, preorders will start next month for the HTC Vive Pre with the official launch slated for April, and Sony’s PlayStation VR is expected to release this year as well.

The survey echoes this hopeful outlook for VR, as 15% of developers say their next game will incorporate the technology. Last year, only 6% said they would look to incorporate VR in the future.

Other numbers from the survey include:

• 52% of developers working on a game for PC (4% drop from last year)
• 44% of developers working on a smartphone/tablet game (6% drop from last year)
• 27% of developers working on a PS4 game (1% increase from last year)
• 23% of developers working on an Xbox One game (1% increase from last year)

It looks like the state of the industry is that the VR development space is growing, consoles’ popularity remains solid, and PC/mobile development is slightly down. A recent report predicted that VR will generate $5.1 billion this year. 

Do you plan to pick up one of the new VR headsets this year? Or will you wait and see how things turn out, and grab one next year? Let us know in the comments.