The State of Game Development 2025
Game development has never been more diverse, more global, or more dynamic. Drawing on data from the JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025, this report offers a focused look at the people, tools, technologies, and trends shaping the industry today. From shifting team structures and evolving engine preferences to the growing role of AI and the realities of job security, the findings reveal a field that is maturing, adapting, and redefining itself in real time.
What follows is a snapshot of how game developers work, what they build, and where the industry is heading – grounded in data, enriched by expert commentary, and reflective of a community that continues to push the boundaries of interactive creation.
Which of the following best describes your employment and involvement in software development?
What is your age range?
The industry is growing up. With the largest age bracket now being 35–39 (19%) and nearly one-third of developers having 6–10 or more years of experience, game development is shifting from a field of young enthusiasts to one driven by seasoned professionals.
How many years of professional coding experience do you have?
How many people work in your project team?
Small and agile remains the standard. Even within larger organizations, the majority of developers (37%) work in tight-knit squads of 2–7 people, favoring rapid iteration over massive bureaucratic structures.
How many people work for your company / organization?
Game development enjoys global popularity, though its role differs across regions.
Among our Japanese respondents, it stands out as a particularly strong field – both in scale and professional focus. In Central Europe, by contrast, game-making remains mostly a personal or experimental pursuit, something done for curiosity or fun. In Japan, the United States, Canada, and South Korea, game development is more often part of the professional landscape, reflecting established industries and career paths rather than casual interest.
Which of the following sectors is your company or organization primarily active in?
Which activities or hobbies do you pursue in your free time?
Have there been any layoffs in companies you worked for in the past two years?
58%
42%
GameDev Professionals
44%
43%
Others
Layoffs remain widespread across the tech industry, and for game developers, the situation has intensified: the share of professionals reporting job cuts jumped from 42% in 2024 to 58% in 2025. Yet, a paradox of resilience emerges. Despite this growing instability, more than half of respondents (55%) report feeling secure in their current roles, suggesting that while studios may be volatile, developers remain confident in the value of their specialized skills.
of game developers say they feel secure in their current job
The lowest level among all software specializations. Across the profession, the average stands at 65%, suggesting that those who create virtual worlds feel the least certain about their place in the real one.
Developer role distribution
Hobbyist
Mid-size / Indie
AAA studio
Which game technologies do you use, if any?
| AAA studio | Mid-size / Indie | Hobbyist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 64% | 63% | 57% | Unity |
| 55% | 38% | 28% | Unreal Engine |
| 20% | 5% | 3% | Fortnite |
| 19% | 8% | 9% | Custom C++ engine |
| 19% | 18% | 31% | Godot |
| 17% | 6% | 3% | MonoGame / XNA |
| 16% | 4% | 2% | Amazon Lumberyard / O3DE |
| 15% | 5% | 2% | Corona |
| 12% | 1% | 1% | Frostbite |
| 12% | 7% | 15% | Minecraft |
| 10% | 7% | 4% | Cocos2d-x |
| 10% | 1% | 1% | Stride |
| 8% | 3% | 0% | CRYENGINE |
| 8% | 5% | 6% | Roblox |
| 7% | 3% | 5% | GameMaker / GameMaker Studio 2 |
| 6% | 3% | 5% | RPG Maker |
| 5% | 1% | 5% | Bevy |
| – | 1% | 2% | Source |
| – | – | 1% | I don't use game technologies |
| 0% | 8% | 9% | Other |
The market has bifurcated. While Unity and Unreal Engine solidify their grip on the professional sector – with Unreal jumping from 33% usage in 2024 to 55% among AAA studios in 2025 – Godot is the breakout star for independents. The open-source engine has surged from 9% to 31% market share among hobbyists, proving it is now a serious contender.
Where do you distribute your games?
51%
46%
Apple App Store
50%
52%
Google Play
47%
17%
Epic Games Store
46%
40%
Steam
39%
10%
PlayStation Store
Developers are refusing to put all their eggs in one basket. While Apple and Google Play lead mobile distribution, there is a healthy, even spread across Steam, Epic, and consoles, indicating that multi-platform release strategies are becoming the norm to maximize reach.
Which genre(s) of games do you develop?
| AAA studio | Mid-size / Indie | Hobbyist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 71% | 34% | 34% | Action |
| 45% | 33% | 35% | Adventure |
| 36% | 14% | 7% | Racing |
| 34% | 12% | 9% | Fighting |
| 32% | 27% | 23% | Role-playing |
| 27% | 25% | 22% | Simulation |
| 26% | 17% | 18% | Shooter |
| 25% | 43% | 38% | Casual |
| 23% | 8% | 4% | Sports |
| 21% | 11% | 21% | Platformer |
| 19% | 22% | 26% | Puzzle |
| 9% | 27% | 22% | Strategy |
| 2% | 6% | 6% | Other |
Budget dictates genre. AAA studios lean heavily into resource-intensive Action (71%) and Adventure titles, while mid-size studios and hobbyists dominate the Casual market (38-43%), focusing on gameplay loops that require lighter asset production pipelines.
Which parts of game development do you work on?
60%
33%
Game engine or engine subsystem development
54%
60%
Gameplay
47%
38%
Developing tools
39%
66%
Game logic and mechanics
32%
19%
Developing and modifying 3D graphic renders
Which platforms do you target with your projects that use game technologies?
| AAA studio | Mid-size / Indie | Hobbyist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80% | 60% | 49% | Android |
| 72% | 53% | 36% | iOS |
| 65% | 53% | 68% | Windows |
| 55% | 20% | 8% | PlayStation |
| 52% | 16% | 5% | Xbox |
| 46% | 16% | 7% | Nintendo Switch |
| 28% | 25% | 31% | Linux |
| 27% | 28% | 27% | macOS |
| 26% | 16% | 12% | Steam Deck |
| 13% | 22% | 26% | Web |
| 12% | 1% | 3% | Media platforms |
| 8% | 9% | 5% | VR / AR |
| 7% | 3% | 6% | UGC platforms |
| 0% | 3% | 1% | Other |
| NA% | 0% | 2% | None |
Which of the following programming languages have you used for your game development projects in the last 12 months?
C# and C++ still lead the way, powering Unity and Unreal
One engine prized for its flexibility, the other for its raw performance. Python has long played a supporting role, but open-source engines like Godot are giving it new life, drawing in not just hobbyists but more and more professionals (while Python, Java, and JavaScript dominate elsewhere).
Which tools do you or your team use for version control?
| AAA studio | Mid-size / Indie | Hobbyist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45% | 10% | 3% | Perforce P4 (Helix Core) |
| 38% | 26% | 21% | GitLab |
| 38% | 61% | 79% | GitHub |
| 32% | 7% | 4% | Azure DevOps Server |
| 25% | 10% | 4% | Apache Subversion |
| 17% | 6% | 4% | Azure Repos / Azure DevOps Services |
| 14% | 10% | 7% | Bitbucket |
| 4% | 1% | 2% | None of the above |
| 0% | 9% | 7% | Unity Version Control |
| NA% | 3% | 1% | I don’t know |
| 1% | 5% | 5% | Other |
Tooling scales with the studio. Perforce P4 (Helix Core) remains the industry standard for the massive asset pipelines of AAA development (45%), while the indie and hobbyist scene has standardized almost exclusively on GitHub (61%–79%).
Which tool(s) do you or your team use for storing and sharing files and art assets?
49%
48%
Version control system
33%
38%
Google Drive
33%
13%
31%
9%
Dropbox
22%
1%
ftrack
Asset management remains the Wild West. While version control systems are the top choice, the heavy reliance on Google Drive (33%–38%) and even email for transferring assets suggests that Digital Asset Management (DAM) maturity still lags behind code management for many teams.
Which graphic or digital content creation (DCC) tool(s) do you or your team use, if any?
| AAA studio | Mid-size / Indie | Hobbyist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 47% | 38% | 29% | Adobe Photoshop |
| 43% | 47% | 47% | Blender |
| 43% | 20% | 5% | Autodesk Maya |
| 39% | 13% | 4% | Autodesk 3ds Max |
| 36% | 18% | 13% | 3D AI tools |
| 35% | 18% | 11% | Adobe After Effects |
| 24% | 8% | 4% | Houdini |
| 19% | 16% | 12% | 2D AI tools |
| 13% | 22% | 25% | I don’t know |
| 7% | 3% | 4% | Cinema 4D |
| 5% | 1% | 0% | Nuke |
| 1% | 10% | 14% | Other |
Which CPU profilers do you use that are not part of the game development engine you primarily work with?
| AAA studio | Mid-size / Indie | Hobbyist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 48% | 24% | 26% | Visual Studio Performance Profiler |
| 36% | 6% | 6% | Concurrency Visualizer for Visual Studio |
| 26% | 7% | 4% | PIX on Windows |
| 23% | 7% | 5% | Intel VTune Profiler |
| 22% | 10% | 9% | Windows Performance Toolkit |
| 18% | 9% | 6% | Platform-provided profilers |
| 18% | 9% | 8% | dotTrace |
| 14% | 7% | 7% | PerfView |
| 12% | 1% | 2% | Superluminal |
| 8% | 6% | 9% | perf tools on Linux |
| 5% | 5% | 7% | Chrome event tracing |
| NA% | 4% | 3% | Other |
| 20% | 48% | 47% | None |
While the Visual Studio Performance Profiler leads the pack, it is encouraging to see specialized third-party tools gaining traction. Solutions like Intel VTune and JetBrains dotTrace are carving out a space for developers who need deeper, more granular performance insights beyond what standard IDEs offer.
Which IDE or editor do you use the most for your game development projects?
| AAA studio | Mid-size / Indie | Hobbyist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60% | 26% | 23% | Visual Studio |
| 58% | 30% | 43% | Visual Studio Code |
| 39% | 50% | 27% | JetBrains Rider |
| 29% | 6% | 4% | Visual Studio with JetBrains ReSharper |
| 28% | 5% | 5% | CLion |
| 21% | 13% | 7% | PyCharm |
| 19% | 10% | 4% | WebStorm |
| 17% | 14% | 13% | IntelliJ IDEA |
| 10% | 10% | 6% | Android Studio |
| 3% | 9% | 18% | Other |
Which continuous integration (CI) system do you regularly use (in your company or organization) / (for your personal or side projects)?
29%
49%
GitHub Actions
21%
23%
GitLab CI
20%
8%
Jenkins
12%
1%
TeamCity
10%
3%
Travis CI
6%
3%
CircleCI
6%
4%
Azure DevOps Server
59%
60%
ChatGPT web / desktop / mobile apps
53%
49%
GitHub Copilot
25%
20%
DeepSeek apps or self-hosted / locally installed
25%
39%
JetBrains AI Assistant
23%
31%
Cursor
23%
22%
Google Gemini web / mobile apps
10%
10%
JetBrains Junie
22%
6%
Custom AI tool
Overall, AI tooling has moved from an early adopter phase into the mainstream. ChatGPT remains the leading choice for around 60% of respondents in 2025 (down from roughly 70%–75% in 2024), but GitHub Copilot and other specialized tools are catching up fast. Copilot is being used by 53% of AAA studios and 49% of other organizations (up by approximately 20 percentage points since 2024), while newer contenders such as DeepSeek (25%, up 5 p.p.), Cursor (23%, down 8 p.p.), and Google Gemini (23%, up 5%–7%) have already achieved broad adoption among game developers.
JetBrains’ own tools are gaining traction. Adoption of JetBrains AI Assistant has grown from low-teens in 2024 to 25% of AAA studios and 39% of other organizations in 2025. Meanwhile, the newly-released JetBrains Junie has already reached 10% usage despite launching only in 2025.
How likely are you to try AI coding agents in the next 12 months?
63%
43%
Very likely
15%
19%
Somewhat likely
8%
10%
Not sure
2%
5%
Somewhat unlikely
3%
6%
Very unlikely
9%
16%
I already use AI coding agents
Which areas of the software development cycle does your company use AI tools in, if any?
49%
52%
Implementing features or programs
35%
42%
Code review
29%
35%
System design / architecture
27%
24%
Requirement analysis / gathering
26%
43%
Writing tests
21%
32%
Documentation creation
19%
39%
Refactoring
In 2024, AI was primarily an assistant for core creative tasks like gameplay logic (76%). By 2025, it has become a true productivity partner across the entire software lifecycle. Its use has expanded to include routine tasks like code review (35%), writing tests (26%), and documentation (21%), freeing developers to focus more on creative work.
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