The Most Important Gaming Platforms in 2018

For a video gaming platform to be successful, it is absolutely crucial to be backed by the developing community. A survey conducted by UBM, the company behind the annual Game Developers Conference, shines a light on which platforms developers are currently considering the most important and which ones they are working on.

Unsurprisingly, the PC remains the frontrunner with respect to developer support. 60 percent of the roughly 4,000 developers surveyed are currently working on a game that will be released on PCs. Moreover, 59 percent of the respondents consider PCs one of the most interesting gaming platforms. Slightly less popular than PCs, the PlayStation 4 remains a top priority for developers as well. 39 percent of the respondents consider Sony’s bestseller one of the most interesting platforms for 2018 and 30 percent are currently working on PlayStation games.

Nintendo’s highly successful new hybrid console, the Switch, is also considered very interesting by the developers community. However, probably due to its smaller installed base, few developers are already working on games for the Switch. The opposite holds true for mobile games: while developers aren’t overly excited about smartphones as a gaming platform, 36 percent of the respondents are working on a mobile game. Considering the huge installed base and the relatively low effort involved in making smartphone games, it’s understandable that developers try to capitalize on that opportunity.