More than 50% of game developers say generative AI is harming the industry, the highest level to date

[midian182]

A hot potato: Just because game company executives love AI, it doesn't mean everyone feels the same way. According to a new survey from GDC, over half of game developers think it's having a negative impact on the industry – up from just 18% two years ago. One dev said they would rather "quit the industry than use generative AI."

The Game Developers Conference's 2026 State of the Game Industry survey covers several areas, including the controversial use of generative AI in game development.

The survey shows that over one-third (36%) of game industry professionals are using generative AI tools as part of their job.

At game studios, 30% of respondents reported using AI tools. That's significantly less than the 58% of those at publishing companies, support teams, and marketing/PR firms who say they use AI tools. Unsurprisingly, the area with the highest number of users is business professionals (58%).

While the percentage of game industry pros using generative AI has increased slightly over the last couple of years, their opinion on the technology has changed for the worse in recent times. Of the 2,300 respondents, 52% said they think generative AI is having a negative impact on the game industry. That figure stood at 30% last year, and was just 18% two years ago.

In 2025, 13% of respondents said AI was having a positive effect on the game industry. That figure is now down to just 7%. The numbers are higher for executives, of course.

The most unfavorable views of the technology are held by workers in visual and technical art (64%), game design and narrative (63%), and game programming (59%).

Few sectors face as much backlash for using generative AI as the gaming industry. The outcry is loudest when it's used to generate assets in games, as we saw with Black Ops 7, Anno 117, Arc Raiders, and elsewhere.

Most of the survey's respondents, 81%, said their most common use for AI is research or brainstorming. This was followed by daily tasks (like writing emails) and code assistance (47% each), and prototyping (35%).

The final AI section showed that ChatGPT was the most used LLM in the industry (75%), followed by Google Gemini (37%) and Microsoft Copilot (22%).

The report includes some quotes from respondents. One generative AI supporter called anger toward the technology a "moral panic," another said "we are intentionally working on a platform that will put all game devs out of work and allow kids to prompt and direct their own content."

Another dev said AI is "built on theft and plagiarism" and "a regurgitated amalgamation of everything that's come before."

"Our standing rule is: If one of us brings up using GenAI in any of our work, then it's safe to assume we've been assimilated by The Thing and should be burned alive by Kurt Russell," said a US-based game design consultant.

Earlier this week, Jack Buser, global director for games at Google Cloud, called generative AI the "Iron Man suit" of game development, urging all within the industry to use it.

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More than 50% of game developers say generative AI is harming the industry, the highest level to date

 

[noel24]

Soon, as new personal computers and smartphones will stop being available to the growing number of people, 100% of game developers will come to the conclusion that AI, in general, is harming the industry.

 

[FaTaL]

No sht. its eroding jobs.

 

[MasterAce]

There is no putting this genie back in the bottle. And making it do the things we already do is only going to make the products worse.

People need to start thinking what they can do with it that was previously not possible. Like dynamic dialogue or character animation that is not canned or something else.

 

[bviktor]

There is no putting this genie back in the bottle. And making it do the things we already do is only going to make the products worse.

People need to start thinking what they can do with it that was previously not possible. Like dynamic dialogue or character animation that is not canned or something else.

Nah. Everyone's realizing this mess is completely unsustainable, because it costs more than what it saves.

Yes, AI can be handy, as long as someone else pays the bills. Now that feeding period is over and investors are starting to want to see the returns on their billions and billions of investments. And guess what: it turns out to be way too expensive for everyone involved. That "Stargate" project alone is expected to cost around $500 billion. That's almost 7% of the US' annual budget. And 100% of Germany's budget.

Who the hell is going to pay for all that? Who?

Fresh outta oven:

"Software stocks enter bear market on AI disruption fear with ServiceNow plunging 10%"
"Report: OpenAI's Sora app loses its steam just months after a terrific launch"
"AI hype meets reality as majority of CEOs report no financial returns"
"Satya Nadella warns AI must go mainstream to avoid becoming a bubble"
"Another report shows most companies aren't making more money from AI"

Expect a whole lot more of these news to keep coming in.

#notabubble

 

[wiyosaya]

Nothing to see here. Move along.

 

[MasterAce]

Nah. Everyone's realizing this mess is completely unsustainable, because it costs more than what it saves.

Yes, AI can be handy, as long as someone else pays the bills. Now that feeding period is over and investors are starting to want to see the returns on their billions and billions of investments. And guess what: it turns out to be way too expensive for everyone involved. That "Stargate" project alone is expected to cost around $500 billion. That's almost 7% of the US' annual budget. And 100% of Germany's budget.

Who the hell is going to pay for all that? Who?

Fresh outta oven:

"Software stocks enter bear market on AI disruption fear with ServiceNow plunging 10%"
"Report: OpenAI's Sora app loses its steam just months after a terrific launch"
"AI hype meets reality as majority of CEOs report no financial returns"
"Satya Nadella warns AI must go mainstream to avoid becoming a bubble"
"Another report shows most companies aren't making more money from AI"

Expect a whole lot more of these news to keep coming in.

#notabubble

The bubble is real, no doubt about that.

 

[techstrike]

Yeah, 50%... because the other 50% is AI.

 

[pnntmp]

Maybe the article should have focused on how exactly AI is "harming the industry", instead of citing anonymous 'devs'.who allegedly said something.

Harm is easily measurable. Where are the numbers?

 

[OortCloud]

"Jack Buser, global director for games at Google Cloud, called generative AI the "Iron Man suit" of game development, urging all within the industry to use it."

The usual suit-bullsh1t from Google - a company with possibly the worst track record in game development on the planet. It's two previous big tries were Stadia - which they killed and SG&E Studios which they murdered before they released a single game... They just keep throwing sh1t at walls hoping it sticks then peel it off a year later and move on to the next ill-conceived effort to get away from being 'Google - The Data Scraping Company'.

 

[exothermic]

If a game is regurgitated amalgamation then the market will speak by not buying it. If the amalgamation is outcompeting your game, then what does that say about your game?

There's no industry more meritocratic than the gaming industry. One guy with empowering tools and engines can outcompete higher budget slop. And that's a very good thing.

Perhaps you would gain more sympathy by just being honest and saying that you're obsolete and are afraid of losing your job, which is a valid concern. But besides UBI, I don't see what's the solution.