Global consultancy firm Bain & Company has released the results of its research exploring the future of game development and generative AI, aptly titled How will Generative AI Change the Video Game Industry.
A total of 25 game executives from around the world were surveyed for this study, with the majority expressing beliefs that AI is going to speed up development and enhance overall game quality, though most doubt it will lower costs.
Most strikingly, Bain & Company’s results predict that generative AI will represent at least 50% of game development within 10 years.
Human creativity is a must
One of Bain’s most noteworthy findings is both a positive and a negative. 60% of executives don’t expect generative AI to resolve current issues being faced through the talent shortage, which is making development even harder during these challenging times. However, this is a good sign for current game developers’ job security – clearly they won’t be replaced by robots anytime soon.
The executives also discussed the importance of “human creativity”, another good sign for the future of games; developers want to use generate AI as another tool in their belts, not as a replacement for those already established.
However, executives using AI stated that its deployment is in preproduction, which involves concept development and planning – key parts of the creative process. The building of games, testing, launches and live ops aren’t seeing as much generative AI use.
To best use AI, Bain has advised using it deliberately and with discipline, defining ambitions based on the wants of gamers. Of course, many mobile games companies are already well underway with AI-assisted development, from Niantic’s catalogue of dev tools to Homa’s AI hackathon.
“Generative AI is a contentious subject, and any implementation should be treated with care. Most executives we spoke with agreed that the talent model will benefit by freeing up creatives from labour-intensive tasks, such as coding content for games,” Bain & Company summarised.
“Content may be created quicker, but human creativity will remain the source of what makes a video game fun.”
PopScreen games CEO Davy Chadwick recently spoke with us about generative AI and its potential. We also spoke with Roblox Studio Stefano Corazza about how AI is being used already.
Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash
