OpinionRevolutionizing game development: The global impact of AI and efficiency trends in 2024
Opinion
Revolutionizing game development: The global impact of AI and efficiency trends in 2024
The global gaming industry, rocked by significant challenges in 2023 including major layoffs, witnessed a remarkable shift toward developer efficiency and innovation. In response, both the international and Israeli gaming sectors are leveraging AI and new technological trends to reshape game creation. This rapid adaptation highlights a dynamic period of transformation in the gaming world that will affect the entire software development ecosystem
2023 was a challenging time for the global gaming industry, characterized by thousands of layoffs and budget cuts across studios such as EA, Microsoft, Epic, Unity and many others. It was this adversity that pushed developers to look outside their normal bags of tricks for innovative solutions and approaches that prioritized efficiency. This pivot wasn’t just a reaction to the overarching climate, but rather the first step in creating a foundation for the future of game development.
One such step is the industry’s slow but steady embrace of AI. Advancements in the field, especially in generative AI, are helping dev teams do everything from creating high resolution assets, vast, intricate worlds and game level, as well as NPC interactions, special effects and more. A clear sign of this adoption can be seen as hundreds of startups, as well as game dev-tools leaders, are offering new products and services such as Adobe FireFly and Autodesk’s Maya new AI Services to help game designers create high quality images, textures and animations using simple text prompts.
Additionally, AI code assistants like GitHub Copilot and the Israeli startup Tabnine are revolutionizing coding processes, significantly reducing development times and enhancing productivity and quality. This technological advancement is accelerating game development, making processes faster and more efficient.
Another big change that has been for a long time is the democratization of game development. Platforms like Unity and Unreal – which together own nearly half of the market for game engines – enable indie studios (and even solo developers) to create commercially viable games that look and function well. These engines allow developers to offer their games more easily across multiple target platforms while their success-fee licensing models reduce entry barriers, aligning with the trend towards efficiency in game development. Critically, these engines have also invested heavily in fusing AI into their solutions, from navigation to gameplay and asset creation.
Other major developer efficiency advancements can be seen around cloud-based development tools that foster collaboration and the work-from-anywhere need that’s very common in the game-dev ecosystem, as well as investments in efficient testing, pipeline automation, and failure troubleshooting.
But, let’s get specific for a minute and look at a great example of what we discussed above. Israel’s game development industry is known for its innovation and adaptability. Companies like Overwolf, led by CEO Uri Marchand, have introduced AI for a variety of uses. Overwolf introduced it to review code safety from over 150,000 in-game creators, which allows them to rapidly scale content moderation. The company is also testing a GPT-based bot that helps mod creators generate captivating art for their mod pages – a feature that not only boosts their quality but also increases download rates.
These advances have positioned Israeli studios to better create profitable games, even when they are small, and to enter the AAA and consoles field, which will strengthen Israel’s position in the global games market.
The advancements in AI and efficiency within the gaming industry are not just transforming game development but are setting a precedent for the broader tech ecosystem. These innovations, spearheaded by the gaming sector, demonstrate how embracing AI and other efficiency best practices and tools can lead to significant improvements in productivity, quality and creativity. As other industries observe the successes and challenges within gaming, they are likely to adopt similar strategies, making the gaming industry a trailblazer in the efficient and innovative use of technology. This trend underscores a broader movement towards smarter, more agile development practices across tech domains.
Dori Exterman is the Chief Evangelist of Incredibuild.
