AI use has been a massive talking point in the tech industry over the past few years as it continues to get better and better. The video game industry has been at the forefront of AI use as many gamers and developers themselves push back against the use AI in video games. Last year’s darling Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 even had awards rescinded following news of AI being used for concept art. AI companies are even gobbling up so much RAM on the market that the next generation of home consoles may be delayed. So you can say AI and video games are butting heads constantly nowadays.
Now, just this past week, Google released Project Genie an AI tool that allows users to create full on virtual worlds. After its release, the AI tool has already made waves across the video game industry as multiple major gaming companies such as Unity, Take Two, and Roblox have seen their share prices fall in its wake. All three of these companies hit six month lows which is wild as two of these companies are in charge of some of the biggest games going today. This is most likely due to investors seeing Project Genie as a way for anyone to make full blown games despite it currently not being capable of doing so.
Project Genie currently works by creating a virtual world with the use of text generation or by uploading an image. The user can use a process dubbed “World Sketching” to give more detail to the world that Project Genie creates including giving the world exploration wither a first or third person perspective for the character. Then, users are able to jump into the world and explore it and the AI tools allow for constant generation of the world for continued exploration. However, all users can do is travel around and explore with each generation only lasting 60 seconds. Despite how video gamey that sounds, there are no actual gameplay mechanics or interactions or story to the worlds that are created. Even if the world is created from an existing video game IP there isn’t an actual game there.
With how AI keeps increasing in prominence, Project Genie will be something to watch in the video game sphere. Both players and creators have had a major stance against AI usage, but it hasn’t stopped it from being implemented across the field. With how investors are already reacting to the release of Project Genie, only time will tell how advanced these AI tools will get and their impact on video game creation in the future.