Mario and Luigi aren't riding the AI wave. During a recent Q&A with investors, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa addressed the issue. Though he said generative AI can be creative, he reportedly told the audience that the company has no plans to use the technology in games.
“In the game industry, AI-like technology has long been used to control the movements of enemy characters, so game development and AI technology have always been closely related,” Furukawa said, according to TweakTown. “Generative AI, which has been a hot topic in recent years, can be more creative, but we are also aware of the issues of intellectual property rights.”
“We have decades of experience building the know-how to create the best gaming experiences for our customers. We will continue to respond flexibly to technological developments and deliver our unique value that cannot be achieved through technology alone.”
A Nintendo representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
AI will inevitably impact the video game industry, but as CNET's David Lumb wrote at the Game Developers Conference in March, the technology hasn't made it into every game yet. While major companies are exploring ways to use AI, they still seem hesitant to fully incorporate it into their plans, Lumb wrote.
But there is some movement: Microsoft is partnering with Inworld AI to develop AI game dialogue and narration tools, and Nvidia and Ubisoft showed off dynamically responsive non-player characters at GDC 2024. Microsoft is also testing an animated AI chatbot character for Xbox that can provide customer support. But as Neal Kirby, a senior lecturer at Ohio State University, told Lamb, the games industry may end up using generative AI in more mundane ways, like building it into creation tools.
