Developers believe AAA games don’t need microtransactions to be profitable, survey reveals

89% of developers who were interviewed for a research carried out at Devcom 2024 believe that big-budget games, the famous AAA, do not need microtransactions to be profitable.

Most of the interviewees agreed that premium games can only be financially successful by adopting the buy-to-play model. That is, a one-time purchase of the game in its entirety, without having to spend more for it. This model has been part of much of the history of gaming.

In the same survey, 81% of respondents considered the possibility of cross-platform essential for the future of multiplayer games. Check out other insights revealed in this survey:

• 31% of developers prefer to use AI minimally during their work routine;
• 185 intend to use artificial intelligence to code and facilitate development;
• 18% expect to use generative models for marketing and communications;
• 55% point to market saturation as the main challenge faced by the game development industry;
• Rising costs are cited as a problem by 46%;
• 57% believe that layoffs in the gaming industry will continue at the same rate or increase in the next 12 months;
• 43% believe that the pace of layoffs will slow down in the coming months.