Game developers get bullied online over unfinished games -report 

Sauce Labs’ 2023 Gaming Experience Survey Report shines a light on developers’ online struggles with the games they’ve been involved with. The survey collected data from 150 developers and 500 gamers in the US, and the results are a little concerning. 

Almost half of the devs stated they have felt threatened or bullied online with 20% of them worried for their physical safety as a result of it.

The report’s goal is to assess how new releases and feedback, as well as the loops they create, influence the situation. 

As seen in the report, 71% of devs want to get feedback on performance, playability, and game mechanics as a priority. This highlights the need for better communication between devs and gamers. 55% of devs feel they lack information in this context, making it difficult to implement the modifications that players seek. Also, 45% of devs identified another concern, not enough users manually report issues. Which is a potential cause of the communication gap. 

The gap is visible even in the beta testing phase. Beta testing phase’s goal is to gather user feedback, however, 44% of devs reported they experience difficulties gathering the feedback. Another difficulty is to find experienced testers and receive comments in a reasonable amount of time.

Developers face increasing pressure as gamers become more vocal online about their dissatisfaction with the rise of unfinished and glitchy games, and that leads devs to a toll on mental well-being. 

48% the devs stated they have felt threatened or bullied online leading to stress, depression, and even adverse effects on their physical health.

As technology keeps advancing, expectations for games rise alongside it. However, the time it takes to develop them doesn’t always keep up. About 61% of developers have released games under pressure, knowing that these titles weren’t fully prepared for the market but unable to delay the launch. An even larger percentage, 79%, say that the pressure to release unfinished games has grown over the past five years, making the situation worse.

Technology has an undeniable effect on people’s mental health, no matter if you’re on the developer or the user side of it. A few months ago, TikTok launched a new mental health awareness hub.