The vast majority of respondents who took part in Devcom’s annual speaker survey believe that platform exclusivity will soon be consigned to history.
The 2025 edition of the survey was answered by 100 speakers and provides some insight into the sentiments of industry experts on the conference trail.
Notably, only 6 percent of respondents believe that platform exclusivity will remain a core strategy moving forward. Most expect limited exclusives (28 percent) or timed exclusives (34 percent) to become the norm, with 32 percent suggesting exclusivity will become less common altogether.
Major hardware manufacturers like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony traditionally released exclusive software to lure consumers into their respective console ecosystems.
Recently, however, both Microsoft and Sony have moved beyond the confines of Xbox and PlayStation to bring major first-party titles to other platforms such as PC. Microsoft has even decided to release major first-party titles on Playstation and Nintendo Switch.
One third of surveyed Devcom speakers aren’t sold on AI tools
Devcom speakers were also quizzed on other hot topics such as AI and burgeoning development costs.
Discussing the value of AI tools in production, 33 percent of respondents said they would prefer to see “minimal” uptake. Others suggested those tools should only be deployed in areas where they work best, with 32 percent of respondents claiming they could help streamline code and production efforts. 11 percent said AI tools might also be useful in art and animation departments.
Related:Kim Swift, former Portal lead developer, joins NEARstudios as COO
According to the survey, the three biggest challenges facing the video game industry in 2025 is political and economic uncertainty (56 votes), market saturation (53 votes) and rising development costs (44 votes).
Those sentiments were shared at a time when mass layoffs, project cancellations, and studios closures continue to dominate the news cycle.