What game platforms interest developers right now? That’s a crucial question: Devoting immense time and resources to building a game for an unpopular platform can potentially sink a game studio (and hobble a developer’s career).

The latest edition of GDC’s State of the Game Industry report offers us some insights into the platforms drawing developer attention. As you might expect, based on data from previous years, PCs lead the pack, followed by PlayStation 5, Android, and Xbox Series X/S. Here’s the full chart: 

Some interesting things to note: Although Apple has made a big push to capture more of the gaming audience on iOS, Android still has an advantage when it comes to developer interest. Why is that? It could reflect the galaxy of devices running Android (not to mention the operating system’s impressive market-share). Whatever the case, Apple may need to work a bit harder to convince developers to make iOS the focus of their next project. 

It's also worth paying attention to the percentage of developers interested in building games for virtual reality (VR) headsets, which lags pretty much every other popular platform. As Meta (formerly Facebook) and other companies ramp up their spending around the “metaverse,” which is the buzzword for an enormous VR and augmented reality (AR) ecosystem, game developers might give VR and AR a serious look—but unless they can profit from it, many are unlikely to take the plunge into full-on development.

While Meta has managed to sell millions of its Oculus VR headsets over the past few years, and other major tech companies are entering the VR market, VR is still largely regarded as a niche (if it’s regarded at all) by many consumers. If the tech industry manages to make VR more of a mainstream concern, you’ll likely see the percentage of interested game developers start to rise over the next few years.