AI remains the hottest topic in games. OpenAI pulled in record investment last month, and every day seemingly brings news of fresh investment for AI in games.
The Practical AI and AI Advances tracks at the PG Connects and Big Screen Gaming conferences are hugely popular, with 10 hours of AI-focused content already taking place across our events this year.
The time is right for AI Gamechangers. You may have missed the stealthy launch of our newsletter dedicated to AI and machine learning this autumn, but it’s essential reading to keep up with this evolving field and its implications for the games industry.
AI Gamechangers is a weekly email newsletter (sign up here) focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence and the games industry. It covers PC, console, mobile, XR and even an occasional drop of web3. We draw on our extensive network and years of industry expertise across all our network of sites, so that AI Gamechangers provides a unique, insider perspective on how AI and ML are shaping everything from narrative design to QA, monetisation, and UA.
The newsletter is free, and when you sign up, you can expect:
- An exclusive weekly interview with an industry innovator who tells us how they’re leveraging AI in game development, marketing, or other aspects of the games ecosystem. These interviews offer practical insights, explore ethical considerations and share case studies.
- Curated news and links related to AI in games, including updates on new technologies, industry trends, and relevant events that have dropped that week.
It’s already featured an impressive line-up of industry insiders, with interviews offering diverse perspectives on AI's impact. There have been eight interviews so far, with loads more planned.
Live on the Substack page now you can read these profiles:
- Guy Gadney (Charisma.ai) spoke about new ways to experience interactive narratives
- Elina Arponen (Quicksave) discussed AI adoption by games studios
- Yassine Tahi (Kinetix) explored AI-powered 3D animation for emotes
- Harry Holmwood (Magicave) told us how he’s leveraging AI for regular content generation
- Christoffer Holmgård (modl.ai) discussed AI's role in game testing and multiplayer bots
- Kseniia Maiboroda (Elevatix) revealed her strategy for personalisation in mobile game monetisation
- Asaf Yanai (Alison.ai) spoke about market analysis and AI-generated video ads for marketing
- Tuomas Pelkonen (NORDIA Law) gave us the legal perspective and spoke about the impact on IP
- Günay Aliyeva (Gamelight) talked about game discovery, UA and marketing
- Andrew Friday and Dan Fessler (Incite) explained how they're using AI for emergent narratives in their cosy life sim game - but never for art or design
- Markus Kiukkonen (Bitmagic) discusses his studio's big pivot from RPG game to UGC platform
Several common themes and hot-button topics have emerged across these different perspectives. Overall, they all believe AI will significantly impact the games industry, but they agree its implementation should be thoughtful, ethical, and focused on enhancing rather than replacing human decision-making.
“For us, it is very important that the human is designed in from day one,” Guy Gadney told us in the inaugural Q&A.
“It’s very important for all forms of the creative industries, not to sit back and grumble but to actively engage with the various technologies that are out there so that an informed opinion can then be had."
Dan Fessler commented, “We believe in the craft of game-making and the artistry of it. There’s a lot of discussion about what it means for artists to live in a post-AI world. We’re not removing the craftsmanship. We’re interested in AI to make new kinds of experiences that were not possible before”
AI technologies are evolving quickly, and may impact places where you don’t expect it. M&A, for instance, currently relies on legal teams comparing hundreds of contracts and documents. Lawyers historically tend to bill by the hour. LLMs can do that work extremely quickly; analysing and tagging documents is something they’re very good at. Will this mean corporate lawyers start to work and charge differently during due diligence consultation?
Future interviews are already scheduled, including Bitmagic talking us through their new platform for game creation, PopScreen about AI for indie game development, and ArenaX Labs discussing the role of game-playing bots.
Whether you're a developer, marketer, investor, or other industry professional, our weekly AI Gamechangers newsletter is a concise and informative Q&A with a CEO about what AI means to them.
Sign up for free here now: https://aigamechangers.substack.com/
