2024-07-26 13:55:45
A survey of WIRED reveals that major players like Activision Blizzard, which recently laid off dozens of workers, are using generative AI for video game development.
And things are moving pretty quickly. As early as 2023, generative AI systems were being tested. This year, the results are very promising.
Publishers and studios are endorsing the enterprise use of generative AI tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion for concept art production.
Artists, writers, game designers
Also according to Wired, in the spring, rumors, concerns, and whispers about the jobs that AI might replace proliferated in internal communications channels. Where executives saw reason to be excited, many artists, writers, and game designers see a direct threat to their livelihoods.
More than 10,000 layoffs in 2023, studio closures
Video games and their creators are in trouble. An estimated 10,500 people were laid off in the industry in 2023 alone. This year, layoffs in the nearly $200 billion sector have only gotten worse, with studios shedding an additional 11,000 people and counting. Microsoft, the owner of Xbox and parent company of several studios including Activision Blizzard, shut down Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog Games in May. Meanwhile, generative AI systems built by OpenAI and its competitors have infiltrated nearly every industry, dismantling entire careers in the process.
AI tools often present on workstations
But gaming may be the biggest industry AI is poised to conquer. Its economic power has long eclipsed that of Hollywood, while its workforce remains overwhelmingly nonunion. A recent survey conducted by the organizers of the Game Developers Conference found that 49% of the more than 3,000 respondents said their workplace uses AI, and four in five had ethical concerns about its use.
Business leaders are using AI to save money, increase productivity and reduce attrition.
Less need for 2D designers
This translates into a gloomy climate in design teams. Departments are being downsized by laying off 2D artists, so the remaining concept artists have been forced to use AI in their work. Others have been forced to enroll in AI training, and its use is being encouraged across the company.
With no unions, bosses have an easy time imposing their will and many workers and artists feel embarrassed by this proliferation of AI, some even fear for their livelihood and few of them dare to speak out.
Ultimately, it’s those whose jobs are on the line—the developers, artists, designers, and programmers who make the games—who can determine how much AI disrupts their craft. The extent to which the gaming world is automated could depend on whether workers respond to or demand control over how AI tools are used.
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