In 2025, AI has become a lightning rod for players and developers

2025 was the year when Artificial Intelligence made its presence felt in the video game industry. It has been discovered being used in some of the most popular games of the year, and CEOs from some of the biggest game studios claim that it is being implemented everywhere in the industry including their own development operations. Meanwhile, mainstream developers, especially in the indie game space, are resisting its encroachment, and finding ways to signal that their games are AI-free.

Generative AI has largely replaced NFTs as publishers chase the buzzing trend. Its proponents claim that the technology will be a major democratizing force in video game development, as AI’s ability to combine images, text, audio and video could reduce development times and shrink budgets – alleviating two major problems plaguing the industry currently. In service of this idea, many video game studios have announced partnerships with companies working in the field of artificial intelligence.

Ubisoft has technology that can generate short snippets of dialogue called barks and has AI-powered NPCs that players can have conversations with. EA has partnered with Stability AI, and Microsoft uses AI to analyze and create gameplay. Beyond formal partnerships, major gaming companies such as Nexon, Krafton, and Square Enix are openly embracing the new generation of AI.

As a result, new generation AI is starting to appear in games in a big way. Up to this point, AGI in games has mostly been relegated to fringe cases – either prototypes or small, low-quality games that generally get lost in the tens of thousands of titles released on Steam each year. But now, the new generation of artificial intelligence has appeared in the biggest releases of the year. ARC Raidersone of the best multiplayer shooters of the year, used general artificial intelligence for character dialogue. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Gen Images uses AI. Until the 2025 TGA game, Claire Obscure: Expedition 33, Images of the AGI appeared before they were quietly removed.

Reaction to this encroachment from both players and developers has been mixed. It generally seems that players don’t like the appearance of AGI in games. When the origins of artificial general intelligence were discovered in Episode 117: Pax Romanathe game’s developer Ubisoft claimed that the assets “slipped through” the review and were subsequently replaced. When the origins of artificial general intelligence were found in Black ops 7However, Activision acknowledged the problem, but kept the images in the game. Critical response was also unbalanced. ARC Raiders It received low scores with reviewers specifically citing the use of AGI as the reason. Claire ObscureHowever, it has received almost universal acclaim and its use of artificial general intelligence, however tentative, has not been mentioned.

Developers appear to be sensitive to the public’s aversion to AGI but unwilling to commit to not using it. After discovering the origins of artificial general intelligence in Black ops 7Activision said it uses the technology to “empower” its developers, not replace them. When asked about the emergence of artificial general intelligence in… Battlefield 6EA Vice President Rebecka Coutaz described the technology as enticing but confirmed that it would not appear in the final product. Swain Finke, CEO Baldur’s Gate 3 Developer Larian said that general artificial intelligence will be used in the studio’s next game Divinity But only to generate concepts and ideas. He claimed that everything in the final game would be created by humans. He also hinted at why game makers insist on using the technology despite the backlash developers typically receive when it is found.

“This is a technology-driven industry, so you have to try things,” he said. Bloomberg Reporter Jason Schreier in an interview. “You can’t afford not to try things because if someone finds the golden egg and you don’t use it, you’re dead.”

Comments from other CEOs reinforce Finke’s point. Junghoon Lee, CEO ARC RAIDER“It’s important to assume that every gaming company is now using AI,” parent company Nexon said in an interview.

But the problem is that the new generation of artificial intelligence does not yet appear to be the golden egg that its proponents want people to believe. Last year, Keywords Studios, a game development services company, published a report on creating a 2D video game using only AGI tools. The company claimed that general AI tools can streamline some development processes but ultimately cannot replace the work of human talent. Discover Generation AI in Call of duty and Pax Romana This was possible precisely due to the low quality of the images found. With Ubisoft’s interactive AI NPCs, the dialogue they spew feels unnatural and stilted. Players of the Chinese martial arts MMORPG 2025 Where the winds meet They manipulate the chatbot AI’s NPCs to break the game, just like fortnite Players were able to make the AI-powered Darth Vader swear.

Despite all the promises of the new generation of artificial intelligence, its current results do not live up to expectations. So why is it everywhere?

One reason is the competitive advantage that AI may have but cannot currently provide, which Swen Finke alluded to in his interview with Bloomberg. Another reason is also the simplest: it’s the economy, stupid. Despite inflation, weak consumer confidence and spending, and high unemployment rates, the stock market is still booming, fueled by billions and billions of dollars being pumped into AI technology. Game makers looking for capital to keep businesses and profits going want this. Announcing AI initiatives and promoting the use of AI tools — even if those tools have a relatively minor impact on the final product — can be a way to signal to AI-enthusiastic investors that a gaming company is worth their money.

This may explain why the majority of supporters of AI gen in games come from the C-suite at AAA studios and not from the smaller independent groups that almost universally condemn the technology. Indies face the same economic pressures as larger studios, but they have far fewer resources to overcome these pressures. On the surface, independent developers are the ones who will benefit most from the technology, but they are by far its biggest opponents. They resist the assertion that AGI is everywhere and used by everyone, with some tagging their games with anti-AI slogans claiming their games are entirely human-made.

For some independent developers, using AGI completely defeats the purpose of making games. The challenge of coming up with ideas and solutions to development problems — the things that AI is supposed to automate — is a big part of the games industry’s appeal for them. There are also ethical and environmental implications to which independent developers seem particularly sensitive. Gen-AI’s output is compiled from existing bodies of work that are often used without approval or compensation. AI data centers are notorious for consuming energy and polluting their surrounding areas, which are increasingly concentrated in low-income and minority communities.
With its unfulfilled promises and so-far shoddy output, it’s easy to think of next-gen AI as the next gaming flash in the pan that NFTs were. But with the largest gaming companies increasingly reporting its use, AGI will remain a lightning rod in game development — until the technology improves, or, as with NFTs, the bubble bursts.