Aiming to cut costs, most game studios already use AI tools

According to Wired, a large portion of game studios already use AI tools. This initiative aims to cut costs. Thanks to some generative AI options, such as Midjourney e Stable Diffusionprofessionals are losing ground to generative models.

This decision by executives has impacted the industry with layoffs. Wired claims to have had access to internal emails from companies such as Activisionand also interviewed artists and designers. The reports, while maintaining the anonymity of the sources, reinforce that the process of integrating AI into the work routine is being applied, and that the use of these tools is increasingly present.

From internal use to final product

In the case of Activisionthe company initially assured its employees that the tools would only be used to create images for internal use. But that stage has already been overcome. In addition to internal use, the company has also started to apply generative AI to produce content in games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

The use of AI, through tools that evolve at an impressive speed, is reducing companies’ dependence on renowned professionals in the market, who have accumulated years of know-how and a rich portfolio of countless projects. As one of the sources interviewed by Wired stated, studios are coming to the conclusion that it is no longer worth hiring a bunch of concept artists and designers who charge a high price for their work if they can just take an art director and put him in an interaction with Midjourney and Stable Diffusion.

Some professions remain preserved (at least for now)

Of course, some professions, within the roles involved in the creative process of a game, remain preserved, due to a certain inefficiency of the results delivered by AI so far. Professionals who work with 3D animation and programming still have a certain stability. The areas really affected are artists who deal with concept art, graphic designers and illustrators. However, in the coming years the impact on more areas seems to be an inevitable path. Even more so when tools like Sora, from OpenAI, become available.

Some predictions also don’t seem at all optimistic for those directly involved in game production. In March, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said, stated that games created entirely by AI will arrive in less than 10 years.