AI and Game Development: Level Up or Game Over?
Continuing with the popular topic of AI making a major effect in the entertainment industries worldwide, we now come to the world of the gaming industry. The rise of AI tools has been causing game developers and publishers to be concerned about this new technology and how it might shape the industry in the future if AI is left unchecked or trained carefully.
So What’s Happening?
For the past few years, AI's incorporation into the gaming industry has been accelerating, and studios around the world are experimenting with asset creation, animation, character dialogue, and other AI-driven features. These tools promise game studios to save time on game production and costs and allow the game to become more accessible for both developers and consumers. However, this is far from the truth: Many critics of AI use in games state that AI lacks nuance when given several tasks to perform at once, compared to human-made gaming programs, meaning it is more limited in what it can and cannot do, and using it alone is not enough to complete a fully-fledged game. Another point is the amount of lay-offs between 2022-2025 as human developers were replaced by AI. Over 45,000 jobs in the industry have been lost due to the sudden shift in AI use, making it even more concerning about people wanting to work in this field in the future.
Effects on Sales and Hardware
There have been reports that PCs, parts for PC service, and hardware for consoles have dramatically gone up in price due to the AI craze. The global hardware supply, most notably data centers, is undergoing a huge strain due to how costly it is to manage AI, and its whole infrastructure. Consumers are in high demand for RAM and computing resources, but as AI advances, the cost of managing and selling these materials makes any kind of computer service parts, and the right one to suit one's needs, close to impossible to find. Additionally, when hardware prices rise, so do game prices and the time it takes developers to create their games, and this affects their creativity. Games that rely heavily on AI-generated content to cut costs often face significant backlash, and studios that take the time to make games often have a huge price tag, causing even more backlash from communities worldwide.
What Can be Done?
So, what do I think about this situation, and what should game companies do to keep AI in check and ensure it is not used exclusively to make games? My answer to this entire situation is quite simple- visual assets such as models, animations, and music should NOT be made by AI at all. AI can, of course, be used as a guide for each, but it is always possible to outdo it and make a game's assets even better with human influence and technology. As for the problem with the rising PC and PC part prices, I can safely say to support the manufacturers of the parts- the humans, not machines, who increase the said price. Overall, watch yourself whenever you use AI to create things, especially games. Games cannot be played without humans and their insights, so there is no reason at all to create games without them.
Sources:
https://www.wired.com/story/gamers-ai-nightmares-are-coming-true/
https://www.talentdesk.io/blog/the-future-of-ai-in-game-development
Author: Spencer Klein
Spencer Klein is a graphic designer from Long Island, New York with a passion for video games, comics, and pop-culture. He studies how design is marketed towards diverse audiences and uses his research to create stunning designs for anyone to view and enjoy.
