In brief
- While AI speeds up coding and playtesting, devs worry about privacy, cost, and creative control.
- Small studios see AI as a chance to compete, while larger publishers struggle to adapt.
- From smarter NPCs to new jobs, developers say AI is remaking game development.
Nearly nine in 10 game developers say they’ve already built AI agents into their work, according to a new Google Cloud survey. These autonomous programs don’t just generate images and assets; they are inside the game, reacting to players and reshaping virtual worlds.
The survey, conducted in collaboration with The Harris Poll, polled 615 developers across the United States, South Korea, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. It found that 97% of respondents believe that AI agents—autonomous programs that can act without human input—are already reshaping the industry, with most already using them to speed up coding, testing, and localization.
For smaller studios, AI is helping level the playing field, with 29% saying AI is lowering the barrier to entry and allowing them to compete with larger publishers.
“If you’re not on the AI bandwagon right now, you’re already behind,” Kelsey Falter, CEO and co-founder of indie studio Mother Games, told Decrypt. “Being small means we can adapt faster. Bigger studios have legacy codebases and senior engineers resistant to change. For us, AI is baked in from day one.”
In the study, 87% of developers said they’re using AI agents that adapt to players in real time. These agents are being deployed to control non-player characters, guide tutorials, and even moderate online communities. In 2023, Call of Duty publisher Activision rolled out ToxMod, an AI-powered tool that monitors online chat for toxic and hate speech.
Developers say players now expect more dynamic, responsive environments and richer, more reactive worlds, with 35% saying AI-driven tutorials are speeding up player onboarding.
Matias Rodriguez, chief technology officer at Globant, a tech firm that works with major game studios, said gamers are open to AI when it deepens storytelling or immersion—but wary if it feels like a shortcut.
“Gamers are a selective audience when it comes to authenticity,” Rodriguez told Decrypt. “But they’re also some of the most open to innovation when it enhances the immersion.”
AI, he said, is being used as “a creative copilot and a productivity multiplier,” aimed at enhancing—not replacing—the creative process.
Falter agreed that the tools can boost productivity, but said the lack of industry standards means mistakes happen quickly.
“It’s still the wild west,” she said. “A year ago, we saw AI generating soupy code at a faster pace than humans could check it. Without guardrails, you can make a mess faster than you can clean it up.”
Still, most developers are betting on AI’s long-term value. For Falter, the challenge is maintaining human creativity while using AI to unlock new types of gameplay.
“We don’t use AI to generate artwork or churn out clones,” she said. “Our models are trained on scripts written by human writers, and our terrain generators have a specific style unique to our game. It’s about maintaining creative integrity.”
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