"Consumers Generally Do Not Care" About AI In Games, Says Former Square Enix Exec

Genvid CEO Jacob Navok, the former Director of Business at Square Enix, has shared his two cents' worth on the ongoing debate surrounding the use of AI in game development. While it's far from a glowing endorsement of the practice, Navok argues that most players "generally do not care" about it (thanks for the heads up, GamesRadar+).

"For all the anti-AI sentiment we're seeing in various articles," Navok wrote in a recent post on X, "it appears consumers generally do not care".

Alongside the successful launch of ARC Raiders, the source of Navok's argument is Steal a Brainrot, the Roblox game that racked up 30 million concurrent users ("approximately 80x the ARC Raiders concurrents") earlier this year despite being, quote, "named after/based on AI slop characters". The game tasks players with 'stealing' voxel characters modelled on the AI-generated creature meme, 'Italian Brainrot', and, if those numbers weren't telling enough, has proven immensely popular.

"Gen Z loves AI slop, does not care," wrote Navok. "The upcoming generation of gamers are Bane in Dark Knight Rises, saying 'You merely adopted the slop, I was born in it'".

This follows a handful of high-profile cases of AI-generated images appearing in the year's biggest releases, with both Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and ARC Raiders being dragged through the mud at launch, while still putting up huge sales numbers, regardless.

And yet, art and voice work are just "the tip of the spear" when it comes to AI being used in the industry, Navok continues. "Many studios I know are using AI generation in the concept phase, and many more are using Claude for code".

"It will be hard to find a non-indie title that isn't using Claude for code," he concluded, "and ignoring Claude's AI use because it's code while focusing purely on art shows that a lot of AI sentiment is being driven by emotion rather than logic".

Of course, high player counts for the Roblox slop game or ARC Raiders aren't to suggest that everyone is on board with AI implementation. While some studios like EA are diving headfirst into it, we've seen great swathes of studios (big and small) standing opposed to the idea, and our social feeds are constantly awash with disappointed fans after the discovery that their favorite series/franchises/games have hopped on the AI trend.

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