The devcom Developer Conference 2024 has officially launched, bringing together over 300 industry-leading speakers for two days of in-depth discussions and knowledge sharing. The conference began on a high note with the Speaker & VIP Networking Dinner, held at the historic Wolkenburg venue. One of the key highlights of the devcom Developer Conference 2024 evening included the Indie Awards which celebrated the creativity and innovation within the indie game community Additionally, the results of the much-anticipated Speaker Survey were unveiled, providing valuable insights into the current state and future of the gaming industry.
From a competitive pool of over 270 submissions, 35 projects were selected for recognition—20 showcased onsite and 15 featured at the virtual expo. The awards were presented in four distinct categories, each highlighting different aspects of game development excellence. In the Mobile Marvels category, Christoph Minnameier’s Dungeons of Dreadrock, and The Dead King’s Secret from Germany took the top spot. The Creative Overkill category saw SWAP/MEAT by One More Game from the USA emerge victorious. The Graphics Galore award was claimed by Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree from Starvania in Saudi Arabia, while Zombie Rollerz: The Last Ship by Zing Games Inc. from the USA won the Blockbuster category.
Alongside these celebrations, devcom also revealed the findings from its Speaker Survey, which gathered insights from 100 speakers on various pressing topics within the gaming industry. The survey explored the role of AI in game development, with a significant portion of speakers advocating for minimal AI usage, while others expressed interest in its application for coding, production, marketing, and communication. Notably, many respondents believe that AI could replace human translations and localizations within the next 12 to 24 months.
The survey also examined preferred business models, with digital and physical premium games overwhelmingly favored by 65% of respondents. Conversely, Free-to-Play with Ads was the least popular model. Market saturation and rising development costs were identified as the top challenges facing the industry, with one participant cautioning against the pursuit of “infinite growth” at the expense of quality game production.
Regarding the financial viability of AAA games, a resounding 89% of participants believe that the Buy-to-Play model can sustain financial success. Cross-platform play was deemed essential for the future of multiplayer games by 81% of respondents. Despite the rise of subscription models, 62% of speakers do not foresee a decline in the relevance of first-party platforms.
Lastly, the survey touched on the sensitive issue of industry layoffs, with 57% of respondents predicting that layoffs will continue at the same pace or accelerate over the next 12 months, while 43% believe the situation will stabilize or improve.
You can check out the results of the survey in the charts below:
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What are your thoughts on the Indie Award winners and the speaker survey results at the devcom Developer Conference 2024? Let us know in the comments section below.
