AI Mistakes Are Infuriating Gamers as Developers Seek Savings (bloomberg.com)
- Reference: 0180869156
- News link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/26/02/27/1934258/ai-mistakes-are-infuriating-gamers-as-developers-seek-savings
- Source link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-25/ai-mistakes-are-infuriating-gamers-as-developers-seek-savings
As Bloomberg news, Arc Raiders, a surprise hit from Stockholm-based Embark Studios that sold 12 million copies in three months, was briefly vilified online for its robotic-sounding auto-generated voices -- even as CEO Patrick Soderlund insists AI was only used for non-essential elements. EA's Battlefield 6 and Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 both drew gamer anger this winter over thematically mismatched or poorly generated graphics, and Valve's Steam has added labels to flag games made using AI.
Some 47% of developers polled by research house Omdia said they expect generative AI to reduce game quality, and PC gamers -- now facing inflated hardware prices from AI-driven demand for graphics chips -- have turned reflexively antagonistic.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-25/ai-mistakes-are-infuriating-gamers-as-developers-seek-savings
So you want to use AI (Score:1)
If you're a gaming studio and you want to use AI there are two things you should be using it for. The first thing to use it for it first pass only creation of whatever small modules you have. Treat it like code written by a first year intern. The second thing to use it for is automating code reduction and efficiency efforts where those efforts are bounded and tested out the wazoo. Use it to count library calls, identify wasteful algorithms and reduce layers. NOT to fix the issues it finds.
A bit more maybe (Score:2)
I'm even OK with using AI to do minimal graphics work. Some nonsense playing on a TV in the background of a bar. Graffiti in an alleyway. Grunt work stuff not important to the game itself, but makes the world feel a little more lived-in. Not character design, or voices, or the layout of a level, or clothes, etc...
Re: (Score:2)
I've seen a case of a placeholder voice having been generated by AI, but since it was for an ingame AI the fans actually preferred it to what the 'real' lines ended up sounding like, and the company went back to the generated voice. That's a very specific usecase, though.
Re: (Score:2)
There's a ton of other places LLMs can do work to support game development. They're good at making seamless textures, for example. They seem to be pretty good at doing things like simplifying 3d models. The only absolute law of AI in development is that a qualified person has to check its work every time because it might do something completely bananas.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes. But there is a second aspect: Make sure you are not spending much more overall on creating good quality. So far, even really good results seem to only get you 5-10% efficiency increase and there are strong indicators that for many things, AI use makes you slower.
Hence use AI, but do not ever expect it to do your job for you or "transform" things. It cannot do that.
Re: (Score:2)
There is actually more: Better mock-ups and experiments. None of which should ever make it in production.
Authenticity (Score:2)
It's hard for some people to believe but authenticity really is important sometimes. If I'm engaging in an artistic product I want it to be authentic. If I'm communicating with someone at work, I want it to be authentic. If I'm having to sit through a presentation, authentic. I don't care what a clanker has to say about anything. I want connection and communication from a real live person.
Re: (Score:2)
How is AI any less authentic than a game? Both are simulations of reality.
Re: (Score:2)
* than a game coded algorithmically or drawn by a designer
just terrible (Score:2)
I mean this is disgracefui, up until AI games were released in a perfect state with no bugs, graphics glitches or crashes. how can this be acceptable.
Don't blame the tool... (Score:2)
...for the 'game artists' using it wrong. If things are mismatched, that is on the HUMAN that accepted the output from the AI tool. In fact it should be easy to re-frame the prompt to get things to match better. These are not artists using the AI they are monkeys that can't do art in the first place.
WTF do you mean the customer gets a say?! (Score:4, Funny)
You mean we can't shit down their throats and demand they pay us $70 for the disservice?
Re: WTF do you mean the customer gets a say?! (Score:1)
It's in the gaaaayme.
Re: (Score:2)
Most don't give a shit, most are OK with the quality hit. CEOs know that. The cost saving from AI is too compelling. Decades ago, my friend worked at a textile plant in North Carolina. They shut down that plant in the 90s. They were selling good quality fabric at $20 an hour. The Chinese offered slightly inferior fabric at $4. Clothes makers/ chose the $4 fabric, because ultimately the consumer was OK with replacing their clothes more often. Don't blame the clothes makers, definitely don't blame China. Blam
Re: (Score:2)
Type: $20 a pound I meant.