Is there a new, unapologetically derivative open-world game or sequel to the plethora of shooters you’re currently obsessed with? It’s almost certainly made with the help of AI, according to Jack Basser, Google Cloud’s global director of games.
In an interview with mobile gamer bizBuser claimed that nearly every major video game studio uses this technology behind the scenes, whether they admit it or not.
“I think what players don’t realize is that their favorite games right now are already made with AI,” Bazaar told the magazine. “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.'”
Buser acknowledged that some studies show the percentage is much lower, around 40 to 50 percent. But the big gap, he argued, is “basically because developers are willing to tell us whether it’s actually being used.”
It’s unclear which specific study was referenced, but a recent survey conducted by GDC found that around half of game developers think AI is bad for the industry, and just over a third say they use AI in their work. These numbers show just how polarizing AI is in gaming, just as it is in arts and entertainment in general. Last month, when NVIDIA announced new graphics features that use AI to make games inherently unpleasant, gamers were furious, and the backlash was so overwhelming that CEO Jensen Huang appeared to be rattled. Storefronts like Steam have drawn the line by requiring developers to disclose whether their games use AI-generated content, a measure many gamers approve of, but some gaming CEOs don’t.
To support his argument, Buser makes a common argument among AI advocates. The idea is that AI will speed up development and free up time for developers to focus on more important things. He argues that Capcom, best known for the Resident Evil series, is one of the major studios leveraging AI in this way.
“One of the big problems they have is they’re building a huge world and they have to fill it with content,” Bazaar explained. “Just coming up with all the ideas for every pebble, every blade of grass, and doing all the art reviews adds up to a lot of manual work in pre-production.”
But with the introduction of AI, gamers “will start to realize that this is actually helping them play their favorite games faster,” he said. mobile gamer biz. “And with more room to take risks, we’re also getting more innovation in the industry. Instead of waiting seven years for one game, the studio can now produce five games.”
Buser offers his thoughts here. The studio claims it uses Google’s AI tools, including the Nano Banana image generator and the Gemini chatbot, so it’s worth taking with a healthy dose of skepticism. He’s not the first industry insider to claim AI has dirty secrets, and he won’t be the last. That being said, there’s almost certainly some truth to what he’s promoting. A third of developers still say they use AI, and many CEOs are still keen to force their employees to use AI technology.
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