While the entire gaming industry is frantically discussing AI, even CD Projekt Red, the company behind “The Witcher 4” and “Cyberpunk 2077”, has come out to express its stance. However, this time the attitude is a bit intriguing. CD Projekt Red co-CEO Michał Nowakowski recently stated that he believes that games completely generated by AI will definitely appear in the future, and it may be faster than many people think, but he is still skeptical about whether this path is correct.
AI studio has emerged
According to Nowakowski, he once communicated with the founder of an AI game studio. The other party told him that using AI technology, the team can produce 40 game prototypes in just one week, and then select the five most promising works for further development, and even launch the official game in about three weeks. This kind of development speed would be almost like a fantasy if placed in the traditional game industry. After all, AAA masterpieces like “The Witcher 4” often require hundreds of developers to invest several years to complete. But things are clearly changing for AI teams.
Just because you do it fast doesn’t mean you do it well!
Interestingly, Nowakowski doesn’t deny the capabilities of AI; on the contrary, he directly admits that these types of games will definitely appear in the future. However, he also said: He is not sure whether this is really the direction the industry should take. Although he didn’t explain further why, in the same interview, he mentioned that competition for players’ attention today is more intense than in the past. Thousands of games are released every year, and they have to compete with movies, albums, short videos, and social media for time. In such an environment, a truly successful game still needs new ideas, soul, and the ability to attract players over the long term.
The biggest problem with AI may not be technology
In fact, in recent months, more and more developers have begun to openly discuss AI. Some people believe that AI can improve efficiency, while others are worried that creativity will be diluted. According to a number of game developers interviewed by GamesRadar recently, many people’s doubts about AI are not technical, but involve issues such as creative ethics, copyright sources, job replacement, and work quality. Especially in the independent game circle, many creators worry that the future market will be flooded with a large number of low-cost AI works. The biggest problem at that time may not be that games can’t be made, but that no one knows which games are worth playing.
What players are really afraid of is not AI
The most interesting thing is that players are actually not that afraid of AI these days. What players are afraid of is another thing: If someone can really make 40 games a week in the future, then Steam may not put dozens of new games on the shelves every day, but thousands. When the player opens the store page, what they may see is not a shortage of games, but a difficulty in choosing that has directly evolved into a disaster-level version. After all, what the game industry has been lacking is not the number of works, but works that are truly memorable.