During Sony’s recent corporate strategy and earnings presentation, Sony Group CEO Hiroki Totoki has revealed that the company has started incorporating generative AI tools in the development pipelines of the teams under the PlayStation Studios banner. According to Variety, Totoki said that, despite this, “Human creativity must remain at the center,” despite the fact that “AI is a powerful tool, but it is not a replacement for artists and creators. It is an amplifier of human imagination and catalyst for new possibilities.”
CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Hideaki Nishino went into more detail about how generative AI tools are being used at PlayStation. With the goal of automating repetitive workflows, first-party PlayStation studios are using AI to accelerate QA, 3D modeling, and animations. The latter is worth noting, since Nishino has confirmed that the company is using a tool named Mockingbird to generate facial animations based on performance capture data. The Last of Us, Uncharted, and Intergalactic developer Naughty Dog, and MLB: The Show developer San Diego Studio have been confirmed to have adopted this tool.
“Our goal is always to be the best place to play and the best place to publish,” Nishino said. “We see AI as a powerful tool to help us in this mission.” He also reiterated Totoki’s statement, saying that “The vision, the design, and the emotional impact of our games will always come from the talent of our studios and performers. AI is meant to augment their capabilities, not to replace them.”
The use of generative AI has continued to be a big topic of discussion amongst game developers in recent times. Many companies have come out to state that they have been abstaining from implementing these tools into their pre-existing development pipelines. The latest team to do so was Atomic Heart developer Mundfish.
“It’s true, there are a lot of differing opinions on this topic right now,” said studio CEO Robert Bagratuni. “We understand that neural networks and AI can significantly simplify the pre-production phase of projects, helping to iterate ideas faster and reduce overall development time. Because of this, we conducted extensive internal research to evaluate their potential for our workflows. However, at this moment, we have decided not to integrate them into our daily production pipelines.”
IO Interactive, the studio behind the upcoming 007: First Light, has also noted that it hasn’t used generative AI for development. “No, we haven’t. We haven’t worked with AI on the project, generative AI,” said art director Rasmus Poulsen, who went on to note that there was a “combined discussion between core execs in the studio.”
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has also noted that, while generative AI has its uses in game development when it comes to tasks like engineering through machine learning, none of the art assets of Grand Theft Auto 6 have been made using AI.
“That said, do I think tools by themselves create great entertainment properties? No, there’s no evidence that that’s the case, and it won’t be the case in the future,” he explained. “Specifically with regards to GTA 6, generative AI has zero part in what Rockstar Games is building. Their worlds are handcrafted. That’s what differentiates them. They’re built from the ground up, building by building, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. They’re not procedurally generated; they shouldn’t be. That’s what makes great entertainment.”
