Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson has doubled down on the company's commitment to generative AI in game development processes.
In an EA investor call held yesterday, May 7, executives were asked how the publisher would implement generative AI into game production pipelines. Wilson explained that "we're still very early in the AI revolution, or at least the generative AI evolution," but believes that "more than 50% of our development processes will be positively impacted by the advances in generative AI."
Wilson continued to tout the technology, claiming it would make game development "more efficient" and that "we've moved from being able to create stadiums in six months to six weeks." He also compared how FIFA 23 launched with 36 "run cycles," or animations, while EA Sports FC 24 had 1200.
The EA boss reiterated that using AI would help the company build products "on a global basis at a faster rate" and allow developers "to get to the fun more quickly." He also claimed that "there is a real hunger amongst our developers to get to this as quickly as possible."
While discussing developers' wants, it's worth noting that EA laid off 5% of staff (around 670 people) this February as the publisher was "streamlining company operations," in Wilson's own words at the time. Less than a year before that, EA booted another 6% of its workforce (over 700 workers.) One can only wonder what an even more streamlined, efficiency-focused, AI-fueled development pipeline means for the people making games.
Despite those concerns, Wilson claims that the move doesn't intend to "replace what we do, but to augment, enhance, extend, and expand the nature of what interactive entertainment can be in much the way YouTube did for traditional film and television." YouTube is home to great creators and videos, sure, but it's also a platform driven substantially by algorithms. The shift to streaming content has also largely hurt theatrical movie-going and traditional TV models, so make of that what you will.
From Sony to EA, gaming’s major players are getting into AI.
