That potential is totally there for this growth to happen but what will actually happen in all probability is large game companies will continue to make massive cuts in employment in anticipation of being able to use AI for everything (and they will get away with it because workers aren’t organized in the industry of gaming like they are with movies) and the AAA market will stagnate and suffocate any innovation.
my thoughts on this
Pre-existing IPs may continue to rake in the big bucks but make no mistake the AAA game industry is not going to meaningfully grow in the next 5 years except by acquisitions that temporarily increase the shareholder value of large holding companies for the time period it takes for the large company to speedrun killing the beloved indie gaming studio it bought.
The indie gaming scene will grow I suspect though I don’t understand how any significant amount of people will be able to eke out a living developing indie games, especially with how AAA will permanently devalue the game development industry into something computer software does for business people who happen to be in the business of selling games, not an art form or highly valued skill.
Also I would like to emphasize that it doesn’t matter if “AI” can actually replace game developers in doing practical work, likely AI won’t be able to do a very good job, but it really doesn’t matter that big holding companies will lose money temporarily in going all in on AI and firing even more employees in the game development industry, the only thing that matters is that AI provides a clear signal for the wealthy that now is the time for them to have solidarity and collectively devalue the game development profession together. Even if AI doesn’t pan out as useful in this context, that collective devaluing of game development labor will be incredibly profitable in the longterm for these corporations and the ruling class because even if AI disappeared tomorrow, the way it has devalued humans and their work will never go away without a massive cultural shift.
From my experience in dealing with gamers and programmers into game development…… this cultural shift… really unionization and worker organizing to create solidarity across the industry… will happen just before hell freezes over since this hobby is absolutely stuffed full of libertarian fools who think that because they understand programming they must understand how the whole world works (including most crucially, humans and groups of humans).
It is kind of comical in a way the degree to which game development is fucked as a career given how incredibly sure the culture of gamers and game developers is that AI won’t be used to shatter the industry to pieces. Again, it doesn’t matter if AI doesn’t work, new technology is a cue in the script for the wealthy to devalue industries together, and what matters isn’t whether the technology actually changes the landscape (though it may), what matters is that the rich collectively move on cue together and make no mistake… they are.
That potential is totally there for this growth to happen but what will actually happen in all probability is large game companies will continue to make massive cuts in employment in anticipation of being able to use AI for everything (and they will get away with it because workers aren’t organized in the industry of gaming like they are with movies) and the AAA market will stagnate and suffocate any innovation.
my thoughts on this
Pre-existing IPs may continue to rake in the big bucks but make no mistake the AAA game industry is not going to meaningfully grow in the next 5 years except by acquisitions that temporarily increase the shareholder value of large holding companies for the time period it takes for the large company to speedrun killing the beloved indie gaming studio it bought.
The indie gaming scene will grow I suspect though I don’t understand how any significant amount of people will be able to eke out a living developing indie games, especially with how AAA will permanently devalue the game development industry into something computer software does for business people who happen to be in the business of selling games, not an art form or highly valued skill.
Also I would like to emphasize that it doesn’t matter if “AI” can actually replace game developers in doing practical work, likely AI won’t be able to do a very good job, but it really doesn’t matter that big holding companies will lose money temporarily in going all in on AI and firing even more employees in the game development industry, the only thing that matters is that AI provides a clear signal for the wealthy that now is the time for them to have solidarity and collectively devalue the game development profession together. Even if AI doesn’t pan out as useful in this context, that collective devaluing of game development labor will be incredibly profitable in the longterm for these corporations and the ruling class because even if AI disappeared tomorrow, the way it has devalued humans and their work will never go away without a massive cultural shift.
From my experience in dealing with gamers and programmers into game development…… this cultural shift… really unionization and worker organizing to create solidarity across the industry… will happen just before hell freezes over since this hobby is absolutely stuffed full of libertarian fools who think that because they understand programming they must understand how the whole world works (including most crucially, humans and groups of humans).
It is kind of comical in a way the degree to which game development is fucked as a career given how incredibly sure the culture of gamers and game developers is that AI won’t be used to shatter the industry to pieces. Again, it doesn’t matter if AI doesn’t work, new technology is a cue in the script for the wealthy to devalue industries together, and what matters isn’t whether the technology actually changes the landscape (though it may), what matters is that the rich collectively move on cue together and make no mistake… they are.