A new report by the engine manufacturer Unity The publication revealed that 62% of game studios surveyed are using AI in one way or another to aid development. Unity’s report comes after the gaming community reacted with dissatisfaction with the use of AI in recent months.
A game that uses AI to create conversations with NPCs is criticized by gamers as “soulless”.
In December, an official Xbox Twitter account was criticized for using AI to create a promotional image, which featured strange details such as children with mustaches and objects shaped like incorrect form. This is probably the decision of an individual employee and not of the entire company, but it is understandable that fans feel disappointed, especially when the tweet is also congratulating the development of the games. play independently. In addition, Magic: The Gathering developer Wizards of the Coast also suffered a similar situation earlier this year when using AI to create advertising images, while previously claiming to never touch this technology. . However, the majority of game studios using AI are exploiting the technology in ways other than marketing.
Unity reports that the studios surveyed use AI primarily for prototyping, ideation, content creation, and world building. The report further explains that game development is getting longer, as the average launch time for a game in 2022 is 218 days compared to 304 days in 2023. To address this issue, Studios are leveraging the power of AI to streamline certain processes. Among developers using AI, 46% said they use it to improve character animations, 37% use it to speed up coding, and 36% use it to create artwork and levels, test gameplay loops or automate narrative elements. Overall, 71% of studios using AI said the technology improved their performance.
The survey further detailed that 56% of developers adopting AI have exploited the technology to assist with world-building in their games. Of that 56%, 64% of developers surveyed use it to help create NPCs, and 54% use it to help create “One-of-a-kind experience“. Unity also asked AI developers about the types of games they create, with the top answers being AR/VR (29%), massively multiplayer online games (28%), casual ( 27%) and open world (25%). The least popular answers were first-person shooter (15%), puzzle (16%), and education (19%).
However, other companies surveyed expressed reluctance in adopting AI, unlike Square Enix and its aggressive approach to new technology. Unity’s report includes a poll conducted in 2023 that found 38% of studios have not yet begun implementing AI for a variety of reasons. These include not having enough time (43%), not having the right technical skills (24%), and “I didn’t know that was possible” (20%). However, the proportion of studios not using AI appears to have gradually decreased since 2023.
If one thing is certain, it’s that the use of AI is inevitable in the future of game development. Its use has also expanded into post-launch support, through tools like NVIDIA’s AI upscaling technology and Microsoft’s recently announced AI optimization tool.
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