Virtual Reality has become more attractive to game developers as more developers started to work on VR. A survey conducted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) organizer shows that 16% of game developers are working on VR titles for 2016, an increase of last year's 7%.
Ars Technica reported a survey entitled State of The Industry Report 2016 was released by UBM Tech, organizer of the GDC, annual conference and trade show for gaming industry. The survey was conducted to 2,000 professional developers who attended the conference during the past three years, asking about developers' current work and their interest in virtual reality and augmented reality technologies.
According to Venture Beat, group executive vice president of UBM Tech Simon Carless told GamesBeat in an interview, "This year, VR is the thing that more developers want to do. It hasn't taken over, but it has grown fast."
The survey showed that more game developers are attracted to develop VR game. There are 16% of total developers surveyed said they will incorprate the VR technologies in their next game. Oculus Rift was by far the most popular headset with 19%, while other competitors are Samsung Gear VR with 8%, Google Cardboard with 7% and 6% for each HTC Vive and Playstation VR.
Most game developers still favor PC games, there are 52% of them working on PC games but the numbers decline from 56% last year. The second most favorite are mobile games, as 44% developers are working on smartphone and tablet games, down from 50% in 2015. On the other hand, game console continue gaining attraction as popular platforms.
PS4 is the most favorite game console with 27% developers and 23% on Xbox One. Each of them up by one percent from last year. While Nintendo is losing ground with only 5% developers are working on Nintendo Wii U console games, down one percent from a year before.
The growing interest from game developers on VR has been a main focus of console maker to adapt to PC-based system to ease its system integration with the VR technologies. Nintendo is the one who still has not used such system. Tim Lynch, CEO of Psychsoftpc, the maker of gaming computer told Tech Crunch, "Nintendo either needs to adapt or be left behind. Microsoft already has its own VR/AR HoloLens in beta now for developers. And since Xbox is essentially a PC-based system, it is better equipped to meet this."
The growing attention of game developers to work on VR technologies is an interesting fact to look forward where the game industry will head in the near future. Game Developers Conference 2016 will be held in Moscone Convention Center, San Fransisco starting March 14 to March 18.
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