For better or worse, Production AI Released in the game industry.
February 4th, Roblox announced that it is adding a 4D generation to its existing generative AI tool, allowing players to create interactive objects such as cars and planes instead of static objects. The company's generative AI creation tools are similar to Google's Project Genie, which was shown on January 29, and users immediately “created” generative worlds similar to the popular series. The Legend of Zelda.
Project Genie is a text-to-generation tool where users give a prompt like “Create a game where my dog toys get up and fight” and Genie will set it to work, creating a scenario and letting you roam the generated world for a limited time.
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But whether generative AI tools are seen as a Prometheus moment — a Titan stealing fire from the gods and giving it to humanity — or the addition of Pandora's Box — a chest that was opened, letting out all the evil in the world — is up for debate. In all likelihood, it's probably somewhere in between.
Does generative AI have a place in game development?
Indie Game Devs Give Their Thoughts on Generative AI
According to this year's Game Developers Conference State of the Gaming Industry survey, 52% of game industry professionals surveyed believe that generative AI is having a negative impact on the game industry. That's 30% more than in 2025.
“At first, I was a little worried because, if we could really start cranking out games like that, an entire industry of people who have spent years perfecting their craft could be out of a job,” Alexis Bruttman, CEO and game director of independent Astral Clocktower Studio, tells Gamerant.
At a time when every week seems to bring new phases to the industry, Google's Genie or Roblox's Cube Foundation Model do little to ease those tensions.
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While there was some initial concern, Brutman explained that it faded somewhat after Janney saw that it was not powerful enough to make big, immediate changes in the industry. However, this raises some questions: Do these tools have a place in game development, and how far do they go?
“[AI] Creative design work has no place, especially because many AI models are trained on the work of artists they weren't allowed to train on, and games are made by humans, period,” Brutman said. And for the most part, consumers seem to agree.
According to a Quantic Foundry survey, of the more than 1.75 million gamers who participated, 62.7% indicated that they felt very negatively about the use of generative AI in video games. Respondents particularly had issues with generative AI used in the creation of story elements such as art, music, audio effects, dialogue, and quests.
“It seems that the opinion of gamers is overwhelmingly negative, and in the end, that's what really matters,” Brutman said. “If players are yelling at developers that they don't want to see [generative AI] In games, I think we leave it the hell alone.
Generative AI tools give studios the ability to cut corners and cut costs in the name of increased efficiency, which often has an impact on the creators behind the games.
“As humans, there will be trends that we decide we don't like, and our wallets start talking,” Marcus Brown, CEO and co-founder of FanArcade, an independent mobile game studio, tells Gamerant.
However, at the same time, you have games Ark Raiders. The game has been a huge success. At the time of writing, the game has 231,470 concurrent players on Steam. It also uses generative AI for its voiceover work.
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Larian Studios, later developer Baldur's Gate 3Another critical breakthrough, they also drew criticism for using generative AI to create concept art. The concept art was always replaced by human artists, but community feedback was enough to force the developer to say they would no longer use generative AI during development.
It's usually up to gamers to decide how generative AI is used
Gamers may have more power than they think
The power of consumers lies in their wallets. If there's something a developer does – such as using generative AI tools during the development process of their games – gamers can essentially vote on how they feel about it.
Matt Piscatella, executive director of Game with Circana, a market research and data analytics company, compared the situation to Project Ten Dollars.
Project Ten Dollar was a 2010 initiative by EA to try to generate revenue for publishers from used game sales, instead of the money just going to retailers like GameStop. Basically, if you buy a game used at GameStop, you have to pay EA to unlock game features, including multiplayer access.
Like games Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 Both had locked downloadable content behind this initiative. In the end, consumers voted with their wallets, and the project failed.
“[Publishers] Everyone went heavy on it because they wanted to experiment [game sales]. Consumers pushed back very strongly on that concept, and it was dead within a year,” Piscatella tells Gamerant.
A similar thing could happen with generative AI in video games. If consumers don't buy games that contain Gen AI assets, we're unlikely to see many examples of AI asset usage pop up.
“If all the games with Gen AI come out, and it's all rubbish, it's not going to last very long. If we get more games with Gen AI, and it's good or well received by the player base, suddenly you're going to see a lot more of it,” he said.
Gamers can shape the industry, and with Arc Raiders' reception and Larian's push back on generative AI use, it looks like developers will be listening.
“Ultimately, the dollar is going to win everything,” Brown said. “If consumers [say]No, we don't like it because it's obviously AI, and we've turned it off, you'll see game studios get away with how much they implement.
Can consumers, developers and executives find common ground?
For better or worse, AI has changed the game
In its recent earnings call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the company is all about generative AI. Publishes giant games including Take-Two Border 4, NBA 2K, and upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6.
“We are actively embracing generative AI,” he said in response to a question during the company's earnings call.
“We have hundreds of pilots and implementations across our company, including our studios, and we're seeing opportunities to drive efficiencies, reduce costs and do what digital technology has always allowed, making mundane tasks easier and less relevant, freeing up our creators to do more interesting work that makes great entertainment.”
Overall, it's not surprising. CEOs, as Piscatella pointed out to me during our conversation, are usually excited about tools that can save their company money. And according to GDC's survey, 36% of game industry professionals are already using generative AI tools in some capacity as part of their work.
However, when a CEO starts saying things like they're seeing opportunities to drive efficiencies and reduce costs, that can only occasionally translate into layoffs. According to Brutman,
“Basically, as a human race, we need to put down some boundaries about what's okay. It's the Wild West out there. They're doing what they want. [AI].
While Brutman doesn't think the creation of AI is inherently bad, it's hard to deny that it's been largely negative due to a lack of oversight.
“It's becoming very negative in a lot of different ways, where it's displacing people in their jobs in an already unstable economy in many areas. There should definitely be some clear standards, and I think every studio should have those standards,” she said.
For example, when Astral Clocktower Studios hires voice actors, their contract includes an AI rider. This is an agreement that says the studio will not train the AI using their voice or use the AI in their game.
It's something she'd like to see more of in the industry — studios taking a clear stance that makes it easier for gamers to choose the type of development they want to support.
“Developers will have to make very personal decisions about who they work for and in what capacity they are comfortable using AI,” Brown said. Before starting FanArcade, Brown worked on Fortnite for Epic Games, specifically on the game's festival mode.
According to Brown, in the current landscape, studios need to adopt AI tools to stay competitive. However, he said that when it comes to music, voice work, art—the more creative aspects of game dev—AI has no place.
He said, 'After seeing the painting, no one expects the artist to handcraft the canvas on which the artist painted. “So I have no objection to using AI within what I consider to be part of the scaffolding or the canvas. But everything we create will have a human touch when it comes to actually painting.”
AI can never replace human ingenuity. Brown specifically points out that AI, naturally, cannot create anything new, because it cannot think outside of what it has been trained to do.
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It will still depend on people what trends come up next. But when it comes to making mundane tasks easier, that's where AI can shine in game development.
“Lowering technical barriers doesn't replace the need for good taste, or to come up with good ideas. To be disciplined enough, to have the right creative voice to appeal to gamers,” Brutman said. “If anything, it can make those qualities more important, because viewers can tell when there's a real purpose behind something, versus something assembled by a machine.”
Conversations around AI and its place in game development will evolve. There probably has to be a compromise between what gamers are willing to support with their money, how executives push AI on their employees, and what the developers behind the games are willing to accept or push back.
