Gaming developers are doing more than just making games, according to Perforce’s annual State of Game Development report. More than half say they are using real-time game engines for projects in cars, manufacturing, education, architecture, virtual production and general IT.
More than half those surveyed said they are using real-time game engines from Unity Software Inc., Unreal Engine and Godot for non-gaming projects in industries ranging from automotive and manufacturing to education and architecture.
The versatility of game developers highlights their ability to support collaboration across remotely distributed teams, offer high-quality realistic visual content, and design highly complex development environments involving multiple types of data and image files, according to the Perforce survey of 576 game development technology users in 64 countries. This year’s study was conducted with software company JetBrains.
“The report’s findings on game engine use aligns with the unprecedented adoption of game technology we’ve seen in other industries,” Brad Hart, chief technology officer and vice president of product management of digital creation at Perforce, said in a statement. “I really credit the game developers. They have pioneered versatile workflows, around a set of foundational tools, that streamline collaboration and manage complexity at a global scale.”
Adds Vladislav Tankov, head of JetBrains AI: “We see a huge opportunity in generative AI, especially in the game development segment following the recent breakthroughs of AI applications in both the development process and in-game mechanics.”
In fact, 98% of managers surveyed rated the “ability to learn new skills” as the most important trait when considering hiring.
To that end, nearly two-thirds of game developers (65%) use an AI tool, chiefly ChatGPT (47%).
At the same time, developers acknowledge their biggest hindrance to collaboration is moving large files (38%). Innovation also remains an issue because of a lack of talent (51%) and aggressive timelines (33%), according to the survey.
