2025 was the year when Generative AI made its presence felt in the video game industry. Its use has been explored in some of the most popular games of the year, and CEOs of some of the biggest game studios claim it is being implemented everywhere in the industry, including in their own development processes. Meanwhile, rank-and-file developers, especially in the indie games space, are taking steps against its encroachment, coming up with ways to signal that their games are Gen-AI free.
Generic AI has largely replaced NFTs as publishers increasingly chase the trend. Its proponents claim that the technology will be a great democratizing force in video game development, as General AI’s ability to mix images, text, audio, and video can reduce development time and reduce budgets – improving two major problems plaguing the industry right now. In service of that idea, several video game studios have announced partnerships with Gen-AI companies.
Ubisoft has the technology which can produce short fragments of dialogue Which is called Barks and features a Zen-AI powered NPC that players can interact with. EA has partnered with Stability AI, with Microsoft using AI to analyze and create gameplay. Outside of official partnerships, major game companies like NexonCrafton, and square Enix The general is vocally adopting AI.
As a result, General AI is beginning to appear in games on a large scale. Up to this point, General AI in gaming had been mostly relegated to fringe cases – either prototypes or small, low-quality games which usually get lost in the thousands of titles Released on Steam every yearBut now, General AI is coming to the fore in the biggest release of the year, ARC Attacker, One of the breakout multiplayer shooter hits of the yearUsed General AI for character dialogue. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Zen-AI images usedEven the 2025 TGA Game of the Year, Claire Obscure: Campaign 33, Featured Gen-AI Images before they were quietly removed,
Reaction to this encroachment from both players and developers has been mixed. It seems that in general, players don’t like the appearance of General AI in games. When Gen-AI Assets Were Discovered Anno 117: Pax RomanaThe game’s developer Ubisoft claimed the assets “slipped through” were reviewed and later changed. When Gen-AI assets were found black ops 7However, Activision acknowledged the issue, but kept the images in the game. The critical response has also been one-sided. ARC Attacker low marks given Reviewers have particularly cited the use of General AI as the reason. claire vagueHowever, was almost universally praised And its use of General AI, no matter how temporary, is barely mentioned.
It seems that developers are sensitive to the public’s dislike of Generation AI, but are not committed to not using it. After the discovery of Gen-AI assets black ops 7Activision said it uses the technology To “empower” your developers, not replace themWhen asked about the arrival of General AI battlefield 6EA VP Rebecca Coutaz called the technology attractive but confirmed This will not appear in the final productSven Vincke, CEO baldur’s gate 3 developer larian, Said to be using Gen AI for the studio’s next game divinity But only to generate concepts and ideas. He claimed that everything in the finished game would be created by humans. He also hinted at why game makers insist on using the technique, despite the backlash developers typically receive whenever it is found.
“It’s a tech-driven industry, so you try things,” he told bloomberg Reporter Jason Schreiber in an interview“You can’t afford not to try things because if someone finds the golden egg and you’re not using it, you’re dead,”
Comments from other CEOs reinforce Vinke’s point. Junghoon Lee, CEO ARC RaiderNexon, its parent company, said in an interview that, “It’s important to recognize that every game company is now using AI.”
The problem, however, is that General AI doesn’t yet appear to be the golden egg that proponents want people to believe in. Last year, Keyword Studios, a game development services company, published a report on creating 2D video games using only Gen-AI tools. The company claimed that Zen-AI tools could streamline some development processes but ultimately cannot replace the work of human geniusDiscovery of General AI Duty And Pax Romana This was probably due to the low-quality of the images found. With Ubisoft’s interactive Gen-AI NPCs, the dialogue they speak sounds unnatural and unnatural. Players in 2025 Chinese martial arts MMORPG where the winds meet Its AI chatbots are manipulating NPCs to break the gamejust like that Fortnite Players were able to swear to an AI-powered Darth Vader.
Despite all the promises of General AI, its current results fall short of expectations. So why is it everywhere?
One reason for this is that AI can provide a competitive edge, but it currently cannot, which Sven Vincke mentioned in his interview. bloombergThe second reason is also the simplest: it’s the economy, silly, Despite declining inflation, consumer confidence and spending, and rising unemployment, The stock market is still on the riseDriven by the billions and trillions of dollars being poured into AI technology. Game manufacturers are looking for capital to continue business and profits. Announcing AI initiatives and promoting the use of AI tools – even if those tools have a relatively minor impact on the final product – can be a way to signal to AI-curious investors that a game company is worth their money.
This may explain why most proponents of Gen-AI in gaming come from the C-suites of AAA studios, not smaller indie organizations that almost universally condemn the technology. face indies same economic pressure As big studios but they have far fewer resources to deal with those pressures. Apparently, indie developers are the ones who benefit most from the technology, but are, by far, its biggest opponents. They are refuting the claim that General AI is everywhere, everyone is using it, some are marking their games with anti-AI logos and declaring that their games are created entirely by humans.
For some indie developers, using Zen AI completely defeats the purpose of making a game. The challenge of coming up with ideas and solutions to development problems – the things that General AI should automate – is a big part of the appeal of creating games. There are also ethical and environmental implications to which indie developers seem to be particularly sensitive. Gen-AI outputs are taken from existing bodies of work that were often used without consent or compensation. AI data centers are notorious for consumptive energy use and polluting their surrounding areas, which are increasingly concentrated in low-income and minority communities.
With its unrealistic promises and substandard output so far, it’s easy to think of Gen AI as gaming’s next flash, like NFTs. But with gaming’s biggest companies increasingly reporting their use, General AI will remain a lightning rod in game development – until the technology improves, or, like NFTs, the bubble pops.
