GDC State of the Industry survey shows huge confidence in Nintendo Switch

The organisers of Game Developers Conference have released the results of its fifth State of the Industry survey. The annual survey serves as a snapshot of the industry, with more than 4,500 game developers responding.

The big headlines seem to be a clear preference for the HTC Vive amongst those developing in virtual reality, optimism for Nintendo’s forthcoming Nintendo Switch console and uncertainty over Microsoft and Sony’s mid-cycle console updates in the form of the PlayStation 4 Pro and Microsoft’s Project Scorpio.

50 per cent of the respondents believe Nintendo’s Switch console will outsell its predecessor the Wii U, which has a worldwide install base of around 13 million. 14 per cent said they thought the Switch would sell less than the Wii U, while 37 per cent were unsure.

Respondents were less sure on the Switch’s ability to switch between portable and docked modes, with many suggested they weren’t sure how well this would be received. Nintendo’s big reveal is tomorrow, so this confidence before they’ve really revealed any information about the Switch is no doubt a big positive.

However, few of those showing confidence in it are developing for the platform currently, with just 3 per cent of those queried working with the switch. That’s the same percentage of people working on the Xbox 360 and less than people developing for the Apple TV (4%).

In fact, the most common platforms for developers at the moment is PC/Mac with 53 per cent of respondents, followed by smartphones/tablets with 38 per cent working on the platform. After that comes PS4/PS4 Pro (27%), Xbox One/Scorpio (22%), and VR headsets (24%), with the most popular VR headset to develop on being the HTC Vive.