GDC survey shows increased interest in Switch and lootboxes
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) has published a report with results of a survey almost 4,000 game developers took part in, which shows some interesting developments in the game industry.
The State of the Game Industry 2018 report shows that the interest in the Nintendo Switch has grown, with 12% of the respondents currently working on a game for the hybrid system (3% more than last year) and 15% who have plans to bring their next game to the Switch (5% increase over last year). The Switch also is 1 of the 3 platforms developers picked as most interesting at the moment. The most popular being the PC (59%) and PlayStation 4/4 Pro (39%), with the Switch (36%) being the more interesting choice over the Xbox One (28%).
Loot boxes
The survey also shows which business models developers are planning to use in their next games. Almost half of the respondents (49%) is choosing for "pay to download", with 39% opting for "free to download", 23% responded it will feature "paid downloadable content" and 22% said it will use "in-game items sold for real money".
11% of the developers responded that their next title will include "paid item crates". When asked about the loot boxes, a lot responded with caution: "It's only acceptable when it is vanity cosmetic items," one respondent wrote. "When it vastly controls the outcome of the game when playing against other people it's a problem."
The complete report can be downloaded and read here and also elaborates more on marketing and VR/AR. The Game Developers Conference 2018 will be held in San Francisco, California from March 19 to 23.
