EA says generative AI will make gamers spend more, speed up development time

[midian182]

A hot potato: Electronic Arts is an organization that arguably only misses out on the title of "most-hated game company in the world" because Ubisoft exists. As it turns out, EA loves generative AI. CEO Andrew Wilson has been praising the technology, claiming it is set to make EA 30% more efficient while boosting monetization by 20% over the next five years. It also sounds like it will cost more game developers their jobs.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on Wednesday (via Techraptor), Wilson called generative AI an "incredibly exciting" technology that EA is embracing.

Wilson highlighted just how much generative AI is able to cut down a game's development time. As an example, he said building a stadium for a sports game previously took six months. Over the past year, with the help of the new tech, that has dropped to just six weeks, and it could be down to just six days in the coming years.

Wilson also believes that AI can benefit gamers as well as developers. He said that in FIFA 23, the players run in 12 different ways, while those in EA Sports FC 24 have 1,200 run cycles, thanks to generative AI.

The CEO believes that generative AI will increase EA's efficiency by 30% over the next five years while also growing its player base of 700 million people by at least 50%. He thinks it will convince players to spend 10-20% more money on its games, too, due to "real personalized content, bespoke to me and bespoke to my friends."

Like so many CEOs who talk about the benefits of AI, Wilson claims EA's workers are using the technology to augment and speed up their work, rather than it being used as a means of replacing them. However, it was only a few weeks ago that EA said it was laying off around 670 employees, as well as sunsetting some games and moving away from future IPs.

Wilson's talk of generative AI improving efficiency and, by extension, reducing the required number of developers comes at a bad time. There have been around 8,000 layoffs in the game industry during the first two months of 2024, or around 80% of all the layoffs recorded throughout the entirety of last year.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/102169-ea-generative-ai-increase-efficiency-speed-up-development.html

 

[yRaz]

So when they say making a stadium takes 6 months, do they make it from scratch everytime?

 

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Hey EA, how about absolutely NOT? :-|

 

[Nobina]

No AI out there can make me spend anything on an EA game.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

So when they say making a stadium takes 6 months, do they make it from scratch everytime?

That's what I've gathered. These companies are CONSTANTLY remaking all their assets for every game. The WWE 2k games showed that, they'd bring back old bugs and new problems every release.

I have no clue why. It's the same engine, just use the assets again!

 

[yRaz]

No AI out there can make me spend anything on an EA game.

I remember when the release of an EA game got me excited, that was back in 2007. EA was a gold standard, now it's the gold standard for "micro transactions" where you need to spend $50,000 on a game to be competitive

 

[yRaz]

That's what I've gathered. These companies are CONSTANTLY remaking all their assets for every game. The WWE 2k games showed that, they'd bring back old bugs and new problems every release.

I have no clue why. It's the same engine, just use the assets again!

Nooooooo, they're a "triple A" developer! I honestly don't know the last AAA game I've bought because they're all micro transaction, loot box garbage. There hasn't been a AAA game thats been fun for atleast a decade. I loved it when the AAA community lashed out at baulders Gate 3. "Don't expect games like this"

Well why the **** not? A game that's actually fun? I didn't know I was asking for sooooo much.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

That means small indie developers can make bigger games with AI too.
#competition

 

[yRaz]

That means small indie developers can make bigger games with AI too.
#competition

Indie is just short for "independent" which means that the devs aren't beholden to investors to maximize profit. The triple A games industry is a lie

 

[Superconductor]

EA is a train wreck

 

[wiak]

AI will make games inaccurate, worse and horrible.

 

[wiyosaya]

Ah, here we go. Yet another company to be blinded by the $$$$$$ signs of the AI Fad and think they are going to cash in on it and make a killing. Such thinking has not panned out for other companies and other fads, and I highly doubt that it will pan out on this fad no matter whether its EA or some other gaming company thinking that the Fad is another cash cow laying golden eggs which simply needs to be followed to collect the golden eggs.

 

[Thom Vee]

"generative AI will increase EA's efficiency by 30%" - Cheaper for EA, higher profits.

"convince players to spend 10-20% more money on its games" - higher profits.

Profits over everything, which is why I haven't bought an EA product for a looooong time.

 

[Watzupken]

They should channel generative AI to ensure minimal game bugs, which I have not heard of these software companies mention. Take MS for example, they have bold statements and marketing on their Co-pilot, but still roll out a bunch of buggy updates. In this case, having AI to create a game, I think I am expecting to see more of the same regurgitated with each game release.

 

[puckle]

EA, same game every year, same bugs every year.
Will AI solve that particular problem?

 

[WhiteLeaff]

Correction: It will lower the games quality and may result in the dismissal of some developers to prioritize profit margins. While UE5 already aids in this regard, the focus is on speed rather than efficiency or excellence, potentially leading to the use of less experienced and cheaper developers

 

[OortCloud]

Given that what we call 'AI' I.e. LLM models really just regurgitate in various semi-randomised ways existing code, graphics, concepts etc that they have stolen (often without consent or payment) from other existing code/images/documents then it will really come up with nothing new.
Sounds like the perfect tool for EA products like FIFA, Madden, F1 etc etc.

 

[FaTaL]

Throw AI in , you're making more cuts to something else to beef up profit margin. Its math.

 

[erickmendes]

The CEO believes that generative AI will increase EA's efficiency by 30% over the next five years while also growing its player base of 700 million people by at least 50%. He thinks it will convince players to spend 10-20% more money on its games, too, due to "real personalized content, bespoke to me and bespoke to my friends."

20% more? ... They want to make games cost as much as an iPhone... Hail the 200$ AAA era.
I bet EA will go the Activision way and be gobbled by Disney in some years for it's IPs, then Disney can suck the life out of it, axe every EA employee and usa AI to develop EA IPs.

 

[erickmendes]

Also thinking about AI... I'm wondering how long will it get for games to have AI companions, squad/team members, AI opposing teams... That would be some good use for AI in games... I'm sure AI bots can play better then some players... (I know this already exist but with limited "AI").