Microtransactions have been a reality for years nowwith most players having accepted them willingly, as demonstrated by the balance sheets of companies such as Activision Blizzard or Electronic Arts, whose major revenues come from in-game purchases. In any case, at Devcom 2024 in Cologne, a collateral event to Gamescom, a survey was held on the matter, from which it emerged that for about 90% of developers they make no sense in premium titlesthat is, those with an access price.
Developers’ Responses
The survey was conducted by interviewing 100 of the 300 speakers at the event. Of these, 89% said they believed that premium AAA games could be “financially successful simply through Buy-to-Play.” Still talking about business models, 65% of people believe in the premium oneboth for physical and digital games. Only one person felt that free-to-play with ads was the best direction for the industry.
According to other areas of the survey, 31% of developers prefer a limited use of AI in video game development. That said, 21% expressed interest in using AI to help with coding and general production to speed up the process. Finally, respondents said AI translations could replace human translations in the next 12-24 months.
Talking about the challenges the industry is facing, 55% believe that they are due to market saturation, while another 46% pointed to the rising costs of game development. Regarding layoffs, 57% said layoffs will continue at the same or higher rate over the next 12 months. On the flip side, 43% said layoffs will decrease.
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