Ken Kutaragi, who led the development of the original PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3, has made a bold prediction: Artificial Intelligence (AI) could completely transform the entertainment industry, even replacing traditional video games with brand new interactive experiences! In an interview with Japanese gaming media 4Gamer, he stated that AI will gradually shift games into broader entertainment forms, where user imagination and communication itself could become instantly generated content. In other words, players may no longer need to wait for game companies to build a world—instead, they could directly create the stories and scenarios they want to experience through their own ideas.
Predicting a Key Breakthrough Around 2028-2029?
Kutaragi believes the gaming industry has historically been an important force driving technological progress, especially during the original PlayStation era when 3D technology created massive breakthroughs in gaming experiences. However, he’s noticed that while game graphics have become increasingly sophisticated and development scale and costs continue to rise, overall technological progress isn’t as breathtaking as before. He points out that the industry is currently researching using AI to generate video and music in real-time, predicting this technology could reach computational speeds comparable to current gaming consoles around 2028-2029. Once achieved, the way entertainment content is created could be completely rewritten, no longer limited to traditional game development pipelines.
But Is AI Entertainment Actually More Fun?
Even more astonishing, Kutaragi has stated that the current global gaming market exceeds 30 trillion yen, but could expand to around 3,000 trillion yen in the future. If the definition of entertainment content extends from traditional games to AI-instantiated worlds, stories, and interactive experiences, the market scale could indeed see massive changes—but this remains his prediction, not verified market data.
It’s worth noting that Kutaragi is currently involved in AI-related business ventures, so his highly optimistic outlook on this technology comes as no surprise. However, the fact that AI can generate massive amounts of content doesn’t mean every piece will deliver interesting experiences. Whether players truly want infinitely generated worlds or carefully designed works with emotional resonance and memorable moments may be the question this AI entertainment revolution must answer.