GDC: Developers judge 30% store cuts unfair, PS5 most interesting console

The latest report from the Game Developer Conference (GDC) provides various insights into how developers view the current gaming landscape.

GDC surveyed over 3,000 gaming industry professionals for its 2021 State of the Game Industry report.

Just three percent of developers felt it was fair for digital stores like Steam and GOG to take 30 percent of their revenue. However, perplexingly, three percent believe the platforms should take a larger cut.

62 percent of...

29 April 2021 | Gaming

Apple’s VR headset to launch as niche ‘precursor’ to mainstream AR glasses

Apple is preparing to debut its long-rumoured VR headset next year but the product will be a “pricey, niche precursor” to mainstream AR glasses.

The report comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and claims that Apple itself only expects to sell around one VR headset per store each day—putting Cupertino’s first major new product since the Apple Watch in the same sales league as the company’s other expensive products like the $5,999 Mac Pro (which ships around 180,000 units...

21 January 2021 | Developer

Google further opens Maps to developers, enables Pokemon Go-like games

Google has improved the access developers have to Maps, providing the ability to build things such as games which offer alternate versions of the real world.

The most obvious example of such a game is Niantic's Pokémon Go which, while not quite as viral as it once was, remains popular today.

Niantic was once a startup within Google – back when it was known for its less commercially-successful but still groundbreaking AR game, Ingress. The company offers a toolkit for...

16 June 2020 | Android

Study: Demand for AR/VR devs surges, Go is the most in-demand language

Careers website Hired has posted its latest annual “State of Software Engineers” report which highlights some fascinating industry trends. The most notable statistic in this year's report is an 1400 percent surge in demand for AR/VR talent. Given the release of acclaimed headsets like the Oculus Quest, and the anticipated release of a PSVR 2 later this year, it's perhaps unsurprising to see demand growing so rapidly. Salaries for AR/VR jobs range from $135k - $150k in major US tech hubs....

16 March 2020 | Blockchain

Facebook issues update following cancellation of ‘in-person’ F8 event over coronavirus

Facebook has issued an update following its decision to cancel this year’s F8 conference over coronavirus fears.

F8 is Facebook’s annual event to update the world on its plans for world domination. The event is developer-focused but users also watch the conference to learn about all the new apps, features, and even hardware coming their way.

In a blog post, Facebook wrote:

“Given the growing concerns around COVID-19, we’ve...

28 February 2020 | Platforms

GDC State of the Game Industry 2020: Key trends for the year ahead

The latest GDC State of the Game Industry survey has been released highlighting several interesting trends for the year ahead.

2020 is set to be an important year for the gaming industry. The next-generation PlayStation and Xbox consoles are due to arrive in time for Christmas wishlists, there are murmurs of a Nintendo Switch Pro, VR is maturing, and cloud gaming will accelerate.

Console wars: The last generation?

11 percent of survey respondents said their current project is...

27 January 2020 | Gaming

Google Cardboard goes open-source as VR SDK development halts

Google has open-sourced its Cardboard project as Mountain View winds down its mobile VR ambitions. Cardboard was an impressive project which showed expensive hardware was not necessary for VR apps, but that it certainly helps. In a blog post, Google wrote:

“From a giveaway at Google I/O to more than 15 million units worldwide, Cardboard has played an important role in introducing people to VR through experiences like YouTube and Expeditions.

7 November 2019 | Android

#MWC19: Achieve immersion through video and VR

A session during MWC highlighted the growing importance of video and VR when it comes to creating immersive experiences.

Anjali Sud, CEO of Vimeo, was part of the session. Vimeo is the largest ad-free video network and its monetisation model allows it to be agnostic, even allowing creators to publish to YouTube.

Sud highlighted that video is becoming ‘the de facto form’ of communication. People expect a constant supply of professional, engaging video...

26 February 2019 | Artificial Intelligence

Mozilla aims to expand WebVRs capabilities with the WebXR API

Mozilla is building a new API called WebXR aiming to expand the capabilities of WebVR and enable the creation of mixed reality experiences on the web.

WebVR was first conceived in spring 2014 by Vladimir Vukićević from Mozilla with the aim of providing an open source API for displaying VR content on the web. On March 1st 2016, the Mozilla VR team and the Google Chrome team announced version 1.0 of the WebVR API.

The API is supported across many browsers including...

17 September 2018 | Android

Unity makes it easier to build apps supporting both ARCore and ARKit

Game development platform Unity has made it easier to build apps supporting both ARCore and ARKit with a new cross-platform API.

Unity calls its new solution AR Foundation and it aims to solve many of the problems developers face with augmented reality development.

AR Foundation allows developers to leverage features in the ARCore and ARKit toolkits such as plane detection and world tracking.

 

Bradley Weiers, AR/VR Technical Product Manager, and Michael...

20 June 2018 | Android