[kibwen]

I don't think this is specifically a C++ problem, I think it's a problem for any language which tries to be generalist and encompass many use cases without finding a well-defined niche. Namely, the compromises that a language makes in order to appease wildly divergent use cases will make it less than optimal at many of them, and if demand is high enough for any one of those use cases, then a different language that is custom-tailored for that use case will start to find a foothold.

I think of it like bicycling: one could use the same bike for commuting, road racing, mountain biking, and BMX, and you'd certainly save room in your garage, but most people do not need to do all four of those activities and will instead invest in bikes that make tradeoffs to excel in the use cases that they actually care about.

[mattnewport]

C++ design principles are already a good match for game development however. Specifically its intent to leave no room for a lower level language (except assembly) and to provide zero cost abstractions. There are lots of things C++ doesn't try to be and the are lots of languages more popular in particular domains as a result. C++ dominates game development (and particularly game engine development) because it is the best available match to the needs of that domain. It continues to try and evolve to match those needs better (that's why there's a game development focused study group SG14 on the standards committee, show me another language that takes the needs of game developers that seriously).