Perforce today published its 2023 State of Game Development & Design Report, which collects information from game developers in order to provide insights on the industry as a whole. One of the takeaways from this year’s report is that game developers generally find talent issues to be one of the major challenges they’re facing.
According to Perforce’s report, 32% of developers surveyed said that acquiring and retaining talent was one of the most difficult parts of game development. Similarly, 43% of respondents cited a lack of team members and knowledge as the key factors in slower game development. Triple-A game developers cited a lack of time as another major challenge, but across all developers talent issues appeared to be the biggest challenge. They also mentioned communication issues and the changing dynamic of remote work.
Brad Hart, Perforce’s VP of digital creation, said of the reports findings, “With shifts in talent acquisition and the changing dynamics of remote work, we can’t ignore the ripple effects in the industry. Newcomers are eager for more opportunities and structured ways to learn. For the gaming industry to grow, we need to lower barriers and broaden access to knowledge.”
In addition to the challenges, Perforce’s report shows that most developers are creating titles for PC, and Steam is the most popular platform. Most indie developers (52%) plan on self-publishing, while a majority of triple-A developers (41%) will go through a publisher. The report also says that, among other things, developers would prefer to change the industry’s work life balance, and eliminate crunch as a factor in game development.