The use of AI in game development has certainly been a hot-button topic for the last few months, and conversations have only heated up with Nvidia’s recent DLSS 5 showcase. In a recent investor Q&A, Capcom has said that the company won’t use AI-generated assets for game development.
However, this might not hold for the company’s future, since it also noted that it was in the process of testing how the technology could be used across its various departments, from programming to graphics and sound.
“Our company will not be implementing any AI-generated assets into our video game content,” said the company. “On the other hand, going forward, we plan to actively utilize this technology in order to improve efficiency and productivity of game development. That is why we are currently testing out various methods of usage across our departments, including graphics, sound, and programming.”
Capcom is far from the only Japanese game development company exploring the use of AI technology. Back in November, Square Enix had revealed in its medium-term business plan progress report that it is teaming up with the Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory at the University of Tokyo to conduct joint research on AI-based technologies. The ultimate goal of this collaboration is slated to be the automation of 70 percent of the work that goes into quality assurance and debugging tasks in the typical game development process. This research team is going to include 10 engineers from across the Matsu-Iwasawa lab and the Square Enix group.
On the other hand, we’ve also seen game industry executives baulk at the idea of AI being capable of creating a game on its own. In a recent interview, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said that the concept of an AI making a game of the same scale as Grand Theft Auto 6 is “laughable”.
“I was kind of stunned by the market’s reaction, because the market’s reaction was somehow seeing it as a threat to what we do, when it’s quite obvious that creation tools are beneficial for our industry,” he said. “I think the […] case for big entertainment companies is somehow that AI tools will mean everyone can create hits, doesn’t stand to reason.”
“These tools may help you create assets, but that won’t help you create hits. There are loads of assets out there now. It doesn’t matter if you push a button to create an asset or it takes you six weeks; at the end of the day, you have an asset. And thousands of mobile games are launched every year, and there are a handful of hits.”
Zelnick has also noted that Grand Theft Auto 6 isn’t making use of generative AI for any of its creative aspects. Similarly, Bethesda Game Studios lead Todd Howard spoke about the importance of artistic intention, and how it’s the main reason why AI isn’t used for creative work.
“For us, we’re being incredibly cautious,” he said. “[We’re] kind of viewing [it] as a tool, like an analyst, to look at the data in our games. We’re not using it to generate anything. I think there’s an element of artistic intention that is essential to what we do and what others do.”
