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[LectureMaster]

Unity Says 79% Of Game Developers "Feel Positive" About AI In Gaming

According to Unity's annual Gaming Report, nearly 80% of game developers have a positive feeling towards AI in the games industry.

insider-gaming.com

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The use of AI in video game development has been—and continues to be—a hotly debated topic among developers and players.

In its annual gaming report, Unity claims that 79% of the developers polled feel at least somewhat positive about AI’s impact on the gaming industry. More specifically, of the 300 respondents to the question, 48% felt somewhat positive while another 31% said they were “extremely positive” towards its use in game development.

“After ChatGPT hit the market, generative AI tools were suddenly everywhere, and a lot of game developers and other creators seemed apprehensive at first – but today, 79% of devs polled report feeling positive about using AI in gaming, while a mere 5% are apprehensive,” the report reads.

“Developers would benefit from AI tools that simplify playtesting and automate bug detection,” Pixonic marketing director Sola Saulenko said. “Additionally, AI-powered solutions for localization and quick translations of ad copy, or even generating initial sketches for concept art, could save significant time and resources.”

As far as the use of AI tools is concerned, that has held steady across the industry despite a growing positive sentiment. According to the survey, some usage of AI, for example in adaptive difficulty, as dropped while other areas such as automated playtesting has slightly increased.

“Devs report picking up AI tools at a similar rate to last year, but AI applications and use cases have matured considerably in the interim,” the survey reads. “They’ve grown faster and are better trained, and we as users have honed our ability to guide generative AI toward desired results as AI use has grown normalized.”

Lastly, regarding adoption of AI tools, only 4% of those asked said they aren’t planning to use AI tools in any capacity in 2025. If you want to learn more about game developers had to say, you can check out the full Unity Gaming Report via the company’s website.

 

[EverydayBeast]

People have authority over AI, I think some forget that.

 

[Griffon]

Yep, purple-aired weirdos screaming bloody murder about AI taking their job don't deserve to stay employed.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Has anyone seen the mega evolution from shit to even shittier state of mobile gaming? A.I. without talent/ driven by greed will make any market complete garbage.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

The industry employed a hell of a lot of dunces these last few years, most of them aren't even gamers or have any interest in the medium, just a bunch of activist slack bags, of course they'll want to make their job easier

 

[StereoVsn]

Problem with AI is that it produces bunch of unoptimized and mediocre code that most people will not bother to optimize. Already a lot of code is being produced by AI assistant and while workable a lot of it is kind of bad.

The second issue is that this will affect junior devs first, ie about 2/3 of Ubisoft’s developer base. That will result in developer pipeline issues in the future (junior devs promoted to mid tier and so on).

Third issue is that AI kills off critical thinking in a lot of folks. That includes problem solving skills.

All that said, using AI to prototype and troubleshoot code, create outlines for design docs and presentations, build basic bots and agents and more is so god damn useful. It’s just unfortunate that there are a lot of significant negative consequences.

And I am not even talking large long term job losses in many industries.

 

[Akuji]

AI is the Future and whoever is against it will suffer. Its a Tool. People will use it to make shitty Games and some will use it to make awesome Games.

Just Play the awesome ones.

 

[digimaster7]

if I’m one of the executive I would be excited too, more end year bonus for when I go to the maldives

 

[adamsapple]

After the stunt they tried to pull off with the runtime fee last year, Unity can fuck right off.

 

[Arachnid]

Makes sense, to a point. Less work for them.

But also... less work for them lol

 

[Grizzled Ghost]

The other 21% shall soon be assimilated

 

[LectureMaster]

The other 21% shall soon be assimilated

The rest 21% be like:

 

[Ashamam]

All comes down to whether its a tool or a replacement. If its treated as a tool then you get > output for the same spend, with some disciplines maybe having reduced demand and some increased. But you just know some devs will use it as a replacement, if they do that in the near future they will discover just how derivative AI is. I'm predicting this will happen where there is the most suit pressure, so not good news for EA/Ubi titles, and maybe not good news for MS with Sony also in the picture. But I think publishers with strong creative credentials will be just fine, improved actually.

 

[poppabk]

Hopefully it will eventually open up new paths for gaming instead of just making the same shit easier to do.
Like maybe we can finally have a game where 'your choices make a real difference' actually live up to the claims. I imagine an AI would be able to handle thousands of interconnected story permutations without breaking a sweat while it becomes impossible for a person or even a team of people to do so.

 

[Felessan]

Has anyone seen the mega evolution from shit to even shittier state of mobile gaming? A.I. without talent/ driven by greed will make any market complete garbage.

Nikki and ZZZ are way better than games from several years ago.

 

[kevboard]

we are in the era of "press button to do the work for me", so of course they are positive about it.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I'm more interested how many of them will plan to use AI responsibly. You know, only as a support tool that won't do the job for you and needs to be monitored and corrected. Probably not a lot, the temptation is too high.

 

[Hudo]

I love how none of the categories is related to actually improving AI in video games (of enemies, NPCs, whatever).

 

[Cyborg]

I mean it sure can help the devs in some area and how rapid the AI development is I suspect it will be the norm in 5-10 years.

Spoiler

if we still exist

 

[funking giblet]

I used AI recently to help me port something to Rust quickly, and it probably sped the process up 5x. Also, I'm a programmer with 20+ years experience, not someone "vibe" coding. AI is great at spitting out ideas, fast, and can somewhat react to changes you want to make. It does not replace experience at all. It's a pretty knowledgeable intern.

Remember, it learns code from people who post code on the internet. The worst people!

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

AI is the Future and whoever is against it will suffer. Its a Tool. People will use it to make shitty Games and some will use it to make awesome Games.

Just Play the awesome ones.

AI is a lazy tool designed to make lazy products so it will make games worse, as it makes worse EVERY other product where AI is used. It's amazing how shortsighted the AI-lievers are.

Awesome games / books / movies / shows are made by awesome people, not by an autogen run by cheap labor staff.

 

[GHound]

How many people outside of asset flip shovelware peddlers are actually still using Unity though? Genuine question considering what they tried to pull in 2023. Depending on that number this could be a worthless metric.

 

[Felessan]

Awesome games / books / movies / shows are made by awesome people, not by an autogen run by cheap labor staff.

Awesome people with awesome tools creates awesome products
Awesome people with inferior tools spend too much time on irrelevant parts that lead either to sublar products on very low output

AI is a tool that can boost productivity (as any other automation) - just another step, as we already have 3rd party engines and asset libraries. How it is used is up for the user, it can be used to create trash or it can be used to free up time for more efforts in other areas

And it actually allow more and diverse ideas get into market as now the only thing you need is a good idea, other stuff (engine, art etc) can be left to automation if you seriously lack skills in those areas. And it's a good idea that matter the most.

 

[Akuji]

AI is a lazy tool designed to make lazy products so it will make games worse, as it makes worse EVERY other product where AI is used. It's amazing how shortsighted the AI-lievers are.

Awesome games / books / movies / shows are made by awesome people, not by an autogen run by cheap labor staff.

words to eat in the future 101.

lol.

hope u have clouds today, so you can yell at something old men.

U havent even understood what AI is and how the people using the tool is important.
what a braindead take, educate urself.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

As they should.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

No problem with it since A.I still makes way more appealing looking art than whatever abominations those 21% would make.