Research
Report: Game engines are not only used in the gaming sector
According to the recently released annual “State of Game Development” report from development and DevOps solutions provider Perforce Software, technology is increasingly being used for game development beyond its traditional gaming roots.
According to the report, more than 50% of the 576 global survey respondents now use real-time game engines – such as Unreal, Unity and Godot – for projects outside of the gaming industry, including applications in automotive, manufacturing, education, architecture and virtual production.
The survey gathered data from practitioners, executives and managers in gaming, media and entertainment, automotive and manufacturing across 64 countries to take a closer look at the widespread adoption of gaming technologies, the company said.
“The findings of the game engine usage report are consistent with the unprecedented proliferation of gaming technology we’re seeing in other industries,” said Brad Hart, CTO and VP of Product Management of Digital Creation at Perforce, in a statement. “I commend game developers for building versatile workflows around a set of foundational tools that streamline collaboration and manage complexity on a global scale.”
The report, produced in collaboration with IDE maker JetBrains, highlights the versatility of game development tools in addressing challenges across industries, Hart said. Because game developers have always been at the forefront of innovation, their tools are now being adapted to support complex environments and facilitate collaboration between distributed teams – skills that are increasingly in demand outside of gaming, the two companies said.
“We see a huge opportunity in generative AI, especially in the field of game development following recent breakthroughs in AI applications in both the development process and game mechanics,” adds Vladislav Tankov, team lead of JetBrains’ AI group.
Notable findings include that more than 65% of respondents said they use AI tools in their work, with ChatGPT being the most popular choice at 47%. The biggest challenges cited by survey respondents include securing funding (36%), improving collaboration (21%), and finding time to innovate (21%).
The biggest obstacle to effective collaboration, according to 38% of respondents, is the difficulty of moving large files, even more important than concerns about remote work. In addition, a lack of talent (51%) and tight timelines (33%) were cited as significant barriers to innovation.
The report also sheds light on the evolving job market: 98% of managers rank “ability to learn new skills” as the most important trait when hiring new team members. Interestingly, access to senior management was rated higher (90%) than the ability to work remotely (81%).
The full “State of Game Development 2024” report is available for download here.
About the author
John K. Waters is editor-in-chief of a series of Converge360.com websites focusing on high-end development, AI, and future technology. He has been writing about cutting-edge technologies and Silicon Valley culture for more than two decades and has written more than a dozen books. He also co-wrote the documentary Silicon Valley: A 100-year renaissancewhich aired on PBS. He can be reached at (email protected).
