Ex-Square Enix executive says gamers don't care about generative AI, citing Arc Raiders success

There are strong opinions about the role of generative AI in game development. As major publishers embrace the technology, a former Square Enix business director believes any criticism won’t affect sales. Jacob Navok took to social media to argue that most gamers “generally do not care” how developers create assets.

Navok quotes the extraction shooter Arc Raiders as an example of a thriving game. Embark Studios’ extraction shooter uses a voice generator for some NPC dialogue. Despite one harsh review, it hasn’t prevented an impressive Arc Raiders Steam chart performance. It peaked at nearly 482,000 concurrent players, competing with Battlefield 6 and obliterating Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

The now-Genvid CEO also references the Roblox title Steal a Brainrot, which depends on generative AI for its character designs. Despite using “3D models of AI slop”, it attracted a concurrent player count of more than 24 million.

Publishers are reluctant to announce AI initiatives

So far, companies like EA have had measured responses when asked about their support for AI tools. While it encourages workers to use the apps, it claims the goal is to enhance productivity rather than replace human creativity. Still, Navok reveals that more studios are employing “AI generation in the concept phase”, while others rely on it for essential programming.

According to Navok, audiences shouldn’t differentiate art created by machines from coding. Those who do are “driven by emotion rather than logic”. That statement didn’t sit well with some gamers. One reader pointed out that shoddy AI-generated art and voiceovers can affect the quality of gameplay.

Besides quality concerns, some gamers also sympathize with developers who are at risk of losing their jobs. Square Enix, the maker of Final Fantasy games, now plans to replace 70% of its debugging and QA efforts with AI tools. Nevertheless, if publishers see a boost to their bottom lines, they are likely to increasingly tune out blowback.