A new report on Japanese online game developers says 100% of those surveyed use generative AI tools.
The Japan Online Game Association (JOGA) has been conducting surveys of online game developers since 2004, and has recently published its 22nd annual report, “JOGA Online Game Market Research Report 2026.”
JOGA emphasizes that the report only concerns domestic (Japanese) games that are “played over the internet on any device.” This does not include console or PC games. It also does not include mobile games, which are standalone offline experiences where users cannot connect online.
As Famitsu reports in this report, 100% of online game companies surveyed said they use generative AI tools.
The most frequently used of these tools is Google Gemini, which 94% of respondents said their company uses. Other popular answers were Claude (84%) and GitHib Copilot (76%).
When we asked companies what tasks they typically delegate to generative AI tools, the most common responses were analyzing user preferences and predicting user behavior.
The survey questioned not only the companies making the games, but also the many users who play them. They were also asked about the use of generative AI in creating the games they play.
According to the survey, many respondents said they were concerned that there would likely be more games that infringed copyrights, and that all games would likely be similar in the future.
Google exec: AI usage is widespread, but studios aren’t necessarily making it public
Although this study focuses solely on online games, the use of generative AI is also increasing among console and PC game developers.
In April, Google Cloud’s global director of games, Jack Basser, claimed that while virtually all major game development studios are now using AI in game development, not all studios are comfortable making it public yet.
Buser told Mobilegamer.biz that Google’s own tools, such as Gemini and Nano Banana Pro, are used by some studios to remove “tedious, repetitive and low-value work” in game development, but while many studios are using these tools, the fact that AI is a divisive topic means they are keeping quiet about it.
“I think what players don’t realize is that their favorite games right now are already built with AI,” he argued. “Those games are shipping. We surveyed studios around the world before and after Gamescom last summer, and about nine out of 10 game developers said, ‘Yes, we use them.'”
“Other studies by other organizations show that the percentage is around 40 to 50 percent. And you might ask yourself, that’s still a big number. It’s still almost half of developers. What is that gap? And that gap is basically that developers are willing to tell you whether the facts in question are being used or not.”
