Average age of devs is getting higher. Number of creators over 45 is growing
We learned interesting data about the age of developers working in the game industry. It turns out that there are more and more people in their 40s among them.
80 Level published an interesting article describing the demographic changes occurring among developers working on games.
- Developers are getting older. The number of those who are 45 years old or older has tripled in the last decade.
- The participation of people aged 35-44 in the entire game developer community increased from 28% in 2015 to 33% in 2023.
- On the other side, the proportion of individuals aged 25-34 within the entire game developer community declined over the past 10 years from 58% to 36%.
The main reason for this, though not the only one, is that experienced devs are increasingly choosing to stay in game development companies, whereas before they were more likely to change industries after a certain period of time.
The age groups in the two graphics are not the same, as the 2015 data was compiled by the International Game Developers Association, while the 2025 data comes from a survey at GDC 2025.
Data regarding gender and workplace
The article also contains data showing a decreasing proportion of men among game developers.
Gender | Participation among all game developers in 2015. | Participation among all game developers in 2025. |
Men | 79% | 66% |
Women | 19% | 25% |
Different/no declaration | 2% | 9% |
Nonetheless, it's important to note that even with the recent wave of layoffs, the gaming industry now employs far more people than it did ten years ago. So we do not have a situation here where women and non-binary people have massively replaced already employed men.
The majority of developers are employed in the USA, which accounts for 58% of all individuals working in the gaming industry. Over the last 10 years, Canada has been replaced by the United Kingdom in second place.
Country | The participation of game developers in relation to all industry workers worldwide in 2015. | The participation of game developers in relation to all industry workers worldwide in 2025. |
USA | 57% | 58% |
Canada | 11% | 6% |
United Kingdom | 6% | 7% |
However, the type of companies in which employees are employed has changed. In 2015, most of them worked in AAA studios. Meanwhile, currently 32% work in indie studios, 15% in AAA teams, and 10% in AA studios. The others hold positions that are not typically developer roles.
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