The video game The industry has been in a turbulent place for the past year, with studio closures and job security leading developer concerns. More layoffs seemingly forever paints a bleak picture for devs, while companies are busy pumping in cash AI initiatives.

According to a new report from the organizers of the Game Developers Conference, 52 percent of devs surveyed said they work for companies that use generative AI in their games. Of the 3,000 people surveyed, nearly half said they were concerned about the technology’s impact on industry and a growing number reported feeling negatively about AI in general. The “State of the Game Industry” report, released Tuesday, is one of a series of surveys conducted each year by GDC organizers ahead of their annual conference. This year’s event will take place in San Francisco in March.

The 2025 GDC report comes on the heels of a tumultuous couple of years for the industry. Even in games of choice Astro Bot, Helldivers 2and Balatro found success, studios such as Microsoft and Sony has slashed staff and games are cancelled. Amidst a mix of cultural and economic factors affecting the industry, developers still continue to face the company’s enthusiasm for technology that some find ethical.

“I have a PhD in AI, working on developing some of the algorithms used in generative AI,” wrote one developer. “I’m very sorry for how pointlessly I offered my contributions.”

About 30 percent of developers who responded to the survey said they felt negatively about AI, up from 18 percent last year; Only 13 percent believe that AI will have a positive impact on games, up from 21 percent in 2024. “No matter how you put it, generative AI is not a good substitute for real people and the quality will suffer,” another developer wrote their answer.

For developers, AI has potential to help with many tasks, respondents said, including coding, concept art, and 3D model generation, but when asked what uses they see for AI in industry, “the word most commonly used in their answers were ‘no,'” GDC organizers wrote.

In theory, generative AI could help some developers ease their jobs. That won’t happen. However, developers are reportedly working longer hours than they have in years. Thirteen percent of respondents reported putting in 51-plus-hour weeks, up from 8 percent of respondents last year. While the extra hours can be attributed to devs doing extra work to make up for the colleagues lost in the 2024 mass layoffs across the industry, many have expressed concerns that AI is also a factor. “We need to use generative AI to help people do their jobs faster, not lose them,” wrote one worker.

Removal, the industry story in the past few years, still can cause a big problem. “Live to ’25“the mantra for struggling developers, hardly helps those who have lost their jobs. According to the survey, one in 10 developers was laid off last year. There is also an increase in “N/A” answers: “the question is not applicable because they have been fired or are unemployed. In other words, it is not a concern now because, in a way, it has already happened to them.