TheRetroArcade
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"I did not get into a creative industry to hand over the creativity to an algorithm."
Despite all the outrage and criticism around game developers and publishers using generative AI in gaming, a new report from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) calculates that as many as 40 percent of developers active in the industry use the controversial tools in their work. This is up four percent compared to the same report last year.
That's according to the latest State of the Game Industry report from GDC, which gathers data from more than 2,300 respondents including, but not limited to, game industry professionals, made up of developers, producers, marketers, executives, and investors.
The report notes that 57 percent of developers who say they do use it, use gen-AI for "text generation, research, early prototyping, coding, and presentations". There appears to be a big split between triple-A studios that use gen-AI (with 27 percent of triple-A developers noting that they "feel encouraged or pressured" to use it) and indie devs, of which only nine percent say the same. Perhaps unsurprisingly - given how vocally against gen-AI a lot of 'frontline developers' have been - the tools are mostly used by "business operations and services, mobile-only studios, and free-to-play developers".
There seems to be a gap in the ages of those willing to use AI tools as well; per the report, over half (54 percent) of people 45 years or older reported using the tools - an eight-point increase from last year's survey. There is also more usage among men (45 percent) than women (33 percent).
What is perhaps more striking is that more people responded to the survey saying that they think AI is having a negative impact on games (55 percent) than responded saying they use the tech, suggesting a trend of caution rather than widespread adoption. Notably, respondents saying they are wary of the technology increased one percent since last year, so more people think AI is having a negative effect on the industry now than at the same time in 2025. Perhaps that's because of the sweeping layoffs we've seen across the games industry, often mentioned in the same breath as AI. Or the 'AI slop' that's been flooding Steam and pushing more traditional developers out. Orr some of the abysmal projects we've seen launch that have clearly used gen-AI assets.
"I did not get into a creative industry to hand over the creativity to an algorithm," said one respondent from the UK when explaining why they don't use gen-AI tools. "I got into this industry to collaborate with creative people, not to have an advanced chatbot riff on the ideas of someone who was laid off," said another from California. "I believe that no one should have to read what no human has written and shouldn't have to see what no human has created," said yet another from Minnesota.
The use of generative AI remains controversial in the games industry, though with big companies like Epic and Microsoft doubling down on the tech, it seems this split between developers that want to embrace it and those that don't is only growing larger.Read more: Full article on www.eurogamer.net
What do you think about this?
Despite all the outrage and criticism around game developers and publishers using generative AI in gaming, a new report from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) calculates that as many as 40 percent of developers active in the industry use the controversial tools in their work. This is up four percent compared to the same report last year.
That's according to the latest State of the Game Industry report from GDC, which gathers data from more than 2,300 respondents including, but not limited to, game industry professionals, made up of developers, producers, marketers, executives, and investors.
The report notes that 57 percent of developers who say they do use it, use gen-AI for "text generation, research, early prototyping, coding, and presentations". There appears to be a big split between triple-A studios that use gen-AI (with 27 percent of triple-A developers noting that they "feel encouraged or pressured" to use it) and indie devs, of which only nine percent say the same. Perhaps unsurprisingly - given how vocally against gen-AI a lot of 'frontline developers' have been - the tools are mostly used by "business operations and services, mobile-only studios, and free-to-play developers".
There seems to be a gap in the ages of those willing to use AI tools as well; per the report, over half (54 percent) of people 45 years or older reported using the tools - an eight-point increase from last year's survey. There is also more usage among men (45 percent) than women (33 percent).
What is perhaps more striking is that more people responded to the survey saying that they think AI is having a negative impact on games (55 percent) than responded saying they use the tech, suggesting a trend of caution rather than widespread adoption. Notably, respondents saying they are wary of the technology increased one percent since last year, so more people think AI is having a negative effect on the industry now than at the same time in 2025. Perhaps that's because of the sweeping layoffs we've seen across the games industry, often mentioned in the same breath as AI. Or the 'AI slop' that's been flooding Steam and pushing more traditional developers out. Orr some of the abysmal projects we've seen launch that have clearly used gen-AI assets.
"I did not get into a creative industry to hand over the creativity to an algorithm," said one respondent from the UK when explaining why they don't use gen-AI tools. "I got into this industry to collaborate with creative people, not to have an advanced chatbot riff on the ideas of someone who was laid off," said another from California. "I believe that no one should have to read what no human has written and shouldn't have to see what no human has created," said yet another from Minnesota.
The use of generative AI remains controversial in the games industry, though with big companies like Epic and Microsoft doubling down on the tech, it seems this split between developers that want to embrace it and those that don't is only growing larger.Read more: Full article on www.eurogamer.net
What do you think about this?