Recently presented at the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming, the Mental Health in the Game Industry white paper spotlights the major findings from Take This’ 2025 survey of game developer mental health and well-being.
Despite the game industry’s place as one of the largest industries in entertainment, there isn’t much research on the major stressors, burnout symptoms, and coping strategies game developers. Take This is working to fill the gap in knowledge, with a goal of supporting developer well-being and resilience to burnout. We surveyed developers to identify top stressors, coping strategies, current industry supports, and what resources developers want (no pizza parties in sight).