Unity Report Highlights Gaming Industry Trends and Challenges

The 2024 Game Developers Conference has begun, and the gaming industry is reflecting on its biggest challenges, including rising costs and the difficulties of getting games discovered by potential players. According to Marc Whitten, Unity's chief technology and product officer, the industry is mature, and breaking into it with a new game is harder than ever. Whitten notes that the number of games available on console has increased dramatically over the past decade, making it tougher for new games to stand out. The 2024 Unity Gaming Report identifies five key trends in the industry: the adoption of AI tools to save time, the diversification of revenue approaches, the growth of multiplatform development, the prioritization of multiplayer games, and the importance of building stronger brands through extended engagement. Whitten believes that these trends are accelerating, and that they are no longer limited to larger studios, but are now affecting smaller studios as well. Discoverability is a major challenge for the industry, and Whitten suggests that forming a community for a game before it launches is crucial. The report also highlights the growth of multiplatform development, with a 40% increase in the number of multiplatform games made with Unity between 2021 and 2023. Whitten notes that mobile studios are bringing their games to PC and console, and that this trend is expected to continue. The report also touches on the use of AI in game development, with 62% of studios surveyed using AI in their workflows, primarily for prototyping and asset creation. Whitten believes that AI can help developers build games faster, learn quicker, and iterate on core ideas more rapidly, while also managing costs.