GamingAIEntertainmentMore game developers are using generative AI than they did last yearThe GDC Festival of Gaming’s latest annual industry survey shows an increase in AI usage among game developers.The GDC Festival of Gaming’s latest annual industry survey shows an increase in AI usage among game developers.by Jay PetersNov 12, 2026, 5:00 PM UTCShareGiftA photo from the GDC Festival of Gaming 2026 event. Image: GDC Festival of GamingJay Peters is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.More video game developers are using generative AI tools in their jobs compared to last year, according to the GDC Festival of Gaming’s latest annual industry survey. 40 percent of developers surveyed say they use it “as part of their job,” an increase from 36 percent in 2025. Usage was higher with game developers that work on free-to-play games at 58 percent and mobile-only studio workers at 70 percent.The survey is being published as the game industry continues to reckon with generative AI tools.
While many game developers, particularly indie developers, have spoken out strongly against the technology, AI is at the center of indie awards conversations in part because Big Walk developer House House “sparingly” used LLMs to assist with technical challenges in the “final stretch” of development. AI is also increasingly being used to reverse-engineer retro games. And in a post on Thursday, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma seemed to indicate that AI will be central to Xbox’s future, saying that “A small team will be able to build worlds that today demand hundreds of developers and hundreds of millions of dollars.”RelatedAI was everywhere at gaming’s big developer conference — except the gamesThe indie game community is in disarray over AI and Big WalkRetro gaming is being overrun with AI73 percent of the survey’s respondents said they used AI for research and brainstorming, while 62 percent used it for data analysis and summarization, and 56 percent for code generation and debugging. 22 percent of respondents used generative AI for concept art or visual ideation, and 8 percent used it for production art or final game assets.The survey also included grim numbers about layoffs, with 34 percent of respondents saying they have been laid off sometime in the past two years.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Jay PetersAIEntertainmentGamingNewsMost PopularNvidia is reportedly preparing to fire Jensen HuangNot everyone is loving their new iPhone DuoHands on with Home Assistant’s new ‘smart home multi-tool’I asked every TV manufacturer 17 questions about how they spy on youHere’s Jensen Huang signing a woman’s chestAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad
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