{"id":359546,"date":"2026-03-22T15:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T15:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359546\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T15:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T15:59:09","slug":"ai-was-everywhere-at-gamings-big-developer-conference-except-the-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359546\/","title":{"rendered":"AI was everywhere at gaming\u2019s big developer conference \u2014 except the games"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI was everywhere at the GDC Festival of Gaming this year. Vendors at the event pitched generative AI tools for things like making AI-driven NPCs<\/a> and even entire games from a chat box<\/a>. On the show floor, I spent 10 minutes playing a demo of a pixel-art fantasy world generated by Tencent\u2019s AI tools. In a briefing with Razer, I watched an AI assistant for QA automatically log issues in a shooter game. And there were many talks about AI, including a standing-room only presentation<\/a> by Google DeepMind researchers about playable AI-generated spaces.<\/p>\n

But there was one key place where AI was missing: the games themselves. Of the many developers I spoke to at the conference, nearly every one was against the idea of using AI in their projects. \u201cI feel like the human mind is so beautiful,\u201d The Melty Way<\/a> developer Gabriel Paquette told me. \u201cWhy not use it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by the GDC Festival of Gaming<\/p>\n

It was a common refrain. Those I spoke to, most of whom were indie developers, disavowed AI, and many said they would never use the technology as it detracted from the human element of development. That\u2019s perhaps not surprising, given that<\/a> a recent GDC survey found that 52 percent of respondents think \u201cgenerative AI is having a negative impact on the game industry,\u201d which is up from 30 percent in 2025 and 18 percent in 2024. Some indie developers already go out of their way to show that their games are \u201cAI free.\u201d<\/a> The largely negative reaction<\/a> to Nvidia\u2019s DLSS 5, which, in the publicly shown examples, added AI slop-like faces<\/a> to recognizable game characters, almost certainly won\u2019t make smaller developers more interested in the technology.<\/p>\n

The general pitch for generative AI in gaming is that it might benefit both developers and players. In the most optimistic view of the technology, developers could use AI to help with tasks like debugging, QA, and idea generation, while players could use AI to help tailor games for themselves. Google Cloud executive Jack Buser, who helped launch Google Stadia and worked on PlayStation Now and PlayStation Home at Sony, says that generative AI is \u201cthe largest transformation in the games industry I have ever witnessed in my nearly 30-year career.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for many of those actually making games, the conversation is different. For instance, Adam Saltsman and Rebekah Saltsman, cofounders of the \u201ccollaborative\u201d studio and publisher Finji<\/a>, known for indie hits like Tunic<\/a> and Chicory: A Colorful Tale<\/a>, note that their works are defined in part by \u201ca specific person or persons\u2019 fingerprints.\u201d In other words, a handmade, human quality, one that can include an element of surprise. \u201dYou can show people what it is, but you are going to break all of their expectations when they go and play it,\u201d Rebekah adds. That philosophy runs counter to the idea of utilizing generative AI in development. When I asked the Saltsmans if they would consider using generative AI for any of Finji\u2019s games, it was a hard no. \u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d Adam says.<\/p>\n

Many developers told me that, in their view, AI-made games don\u2019t look or feel like human-made games, at least right now. Audiences \u201cdon\u2019t connect\u201d with generative AI, according to Abby Howard, from Slay the Princess developer Black Tabby Games<\/a>, adding that \u201cI think it\u2019s generic, I think it makes it feel cheap.\u201d Rebekah is more blunt, saying that generative AI \u201cjust looks like crap.\u201d For Matthew Jackson, who is working on the comedy game My Arms Are Longer Now<\/a>, there\u2019s another practical issue: \u201cAI is so not funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

My Arms Are Longer Now. Image: Jackbox Games<\/p>\n

There are also legal problems that would complicate actually selling a game made with generative AI. Putting aside issues like the environmental impact of AI<\/a> or concerns about the data AI is trained on<\/a>, the Saltsmans tell The Verge they don\u2019t think there is a legal framework to actually selling generative AI output. (This issue is also exacerbated by the fact that AI-generated art can\u2019t be copyrighted<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Finji isn\u2019t the only publisher that isn\u2019t accepting games made with generative AI. Panic, the publisher of Untitled Goose Game<\/a> and creator of the Playdate<\/a>, does not \u201chave any interest in generative AI-created products,\u201d cofounder Cabel Sasser tells The Verge. BigMode, the publishing company started by Jason Gastrow, aka videogamedunkey, requires developers<\/a> to check a box with their application that says \u201cI confirm that my game is human-made and does not include any use of generative AI.\u201d Even Hasbro, which is now developing its own video games<\/a>, isn\u2019t using AI in its development pipelines, CEO Chris Cocks recently said on Decoder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But perhaps what came up most often in my conversations at GDC is that using generative AI removes the craft from making video games. \u201cThe only way to get better at things is through the intense concentration of a career of applied craft,\u201d Black Tabby Games\u2019 Tony Howard-Arias says. Adam talked about how writing code can be \u201cone of those things, like visual art, that pushes on your game design.\u201d He points out that good programming is also good for players: \u201cThings that are really hard to program are often really hard for a player to understand, too.\u201d Alex Schleifer, cofounder of Ballgame developer<\/a> Human Computer, says that the process of making games is just fun \u2014 and from that process, \u201dyou\u2019re also going to come to better ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere do you get new talent in the future?\u201d<\/p>\n

There are concerns that AI tools might take away jobs from humans, which would both lower the pool of available positions in an industry already riddled with layoffs<\/a> and provide new developers fewer ways to get their foot in the door. But despite the promised cost and efficiency savings \u2014 and that\u2019s assuming an AI tool can even compare to what a human can do \u2014 this too would have problems. If you replace humans with AI, \u201cwhere do you get new talent in the future?\u201d Tony says.<\/p>\n

Right now, the developers I spoke with believe crafting games by hand creates a more human connection. \u201cWe tell human stories,\u201d Rebekah says. When you launch a game, there is a person that \u201cyou\u2019ll never meet in your whole life that is playing a thing that you\u2019ve spent thousands upon thousands of hours considering and working on.\u201d Caring about their experience and that connection is \u201cwhy we do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some indie developers I spoke with are open to the potential that generative AI in games could be useful for development or widely adopted down the line. The film and TV industry, for example, is seeing the rise of companies that build bespoke AI models to help with production<\/a>, which could be a possible future for AI tools for game development. Maybe, at some point, AI will be more accepted, Paquette says. But for now, he prefers to do \u201c100 percent\u201d handcrafted work. \u201cThat\u2019s something dear to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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