The latest Game Developers Conference State of the Industry Survey has revealed a spike in interest in virtual reality within the games development community.

In last year’s survey, seven per cent of developers said that they were working on VR projects. This year, that has more than doubled to 16 per cent. 15 per cent say their next title will incorporate VR in some respect.

75 per cent believe VR and AR will prove to be a sustainable business, although 27 per cent don’t think it will ever match the install base of consoles. One per cent think that balance will be tipped by 2018, 44 per cent by 2026 and 54 per cent by 2030.

88 per cent believed eSports was a viable business, however, up from 79 per cent last year.

Interest in Nintendo platform was down, with only five per cent of respondents working on a Wii U title and two per cent on 3DS. That’s down from six and three per cent last year respectively.

PC still rules the roost, with 52 per cent of developers working on the platform, although that’s down slightly from 56 per cent last year. Smartphones and tablets hit 44 per cent, down from 50 per cent. Development for iOS and Android is now virtually neck and neck.

57 per cent of developers now claim to be self-publishing. 24 per cent work with a publisher and 20 per cent work for a publisher.

PS4 has climbed from 26 to 27 per cent and Xbox One from 22 per cent to 23 per cent.

The survey was based on the feedback of 2,000 developers. read more