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When XNA was released in 2006, I was happy and started doing indie attempts. After 3 years or so, there were lots of forum discussions on prospects of AAA game development in C#, and how a high performance vedio game can easily be programmed in C#.

Suddenly after 2-3 more years, these discussions have died down and everybody seems like recommending native C++...

What programming language should I practice on for long term? Should I stick with C# or do an extra effort for C++? Will AAA game companies adopt C# as a replacement to C++?

Note : I aim to work at a AAA game company.

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I'm voting to close this as it's not really a question that can be easily answered. But basically, you will always get a lot of people on forums saying "You could use X", but that doesn't mean anything to the industry. Top studios have never shown much interest in moving away from C/C++. Smaller studios sometimes use other languages. – Kylotan Nov 27 '12 at 18:19
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Developping a side project game in C# has landed me interviews at AAA game studios for internships and they really never talked about the choice of language when they discussed the project with me. My guess is that they wouldn't use it themselves, but if your goal is to work for such a company, the important thing is to have someting to showcase, not the language you use. They also used C# quite a lot for internal tools, just not the game itself. – pwny Nov 27 '12 at 18:34
@pwny So extending myself on C#, is a bad choice, if getting into the AAA game studio is my aim for the future? – kasperov Nov 27 '12 at 18:40
@kasperov not at all, if the language you're most familiar with is C# then go away and make great games with it that you'll be able to show to the people interviewing you. Of course, you'll have to learn C++ at some point, but really the important thing here is not the language, it's what you,re able to do with it. – pwny Nov 27 '12 at 18:48

closed as not constructive by Kylotan, John McDonald, ClassicThunder, Byte56, Noctrine♦ Nov 27 '12 at 19:50

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1 Answer

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While it is true that most AAA companies write their engines in C++ that doesn't mean everyone does. Unity is a game dev ecosystem supporting JS, C# and Boo (note that C++ is not there). But as you mentioned; software like XNA and Unity usually only spawn indie games.

Only time will tell if there'll ever be a victor, but I think it is safe to say that, if you really aim to get into AAA companies, C++ is the norm and C# will always be the runner up.

Note that the video gaming industry develops at an intense rate and who knows what language we'll be programming in in 10 years. As a programmer it is important to be versatile and having the ability to adept. Showing respectable knowledge and work in multiple languages will always give you an edge.

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Conjecture and supposition are not the currency at GD.SE. This is part of the reason that this question was closed in the first place. – ChargingPun Nov 27 '12 at 21:20
I think that Unity Game Engine is itself writern in C++ – kasperov Nov 28 '12 at 1:51
Hence why I highlighted 'I think'. It was never my intention to reply by answer, would've like to add a comment instead. – Greysonn Nov 28 '12 at 3:39

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