Java Game Developer Interview Question:

Tell us is C++ "still" Preferred In Game Development?

Submitted by: Muhammad

Yes, C++ is the language used most often (though some people do still use C).

There are numerous reasons for this. Sheer momentum is one - it's simply the language that has been used for years, a lot of tech already exists and people are comfortable with it, so changing is not going to happen overnight.

Then there is the issue of control. Game developers are control freaks, and we like to know everything that is going on in our code. C++ gives us that control, C# and Java (to pick on the two alternatives you mention) take control away. In many ways that might be a good thing, but game coders don't like it :) Finally there's the simple practical issue that the SDKs for various platforms are very C++ centric. Using another language inevitably involves writing wrappers, cross-compiling down to VMs, and possibly (in the case of some console development) it's not allowed by the platform holder (they really don't like people doing JIT compiling, for a start).
Submitted by: Muhammad