20/02/2025
AI in game development grows despite concerns
68 percent leverage AI specifically to accelerate prototyping. World building is another major application area, used by 56 percent of AI adopters, with nearly two-thirds employing AI to develop non-player characters (NPCs) to populate game worlds. This aligns with a separate report from Inworld – which formed a partnership with Xbox last year – indicating three out of four developers are “excited” about AI-powered NPCs.
“I am experimenting with AI. There are many disciplines that go into making a game, and I am trying to understand how each and every one of them can benefit from it, like tools that can aid prototyping and content generation, level design, and narrative,” says Fabio Franconeri, Head of Games Engineering at SYBO.
“I think there’s a whole universe that goes into workflows and analysis of data and analytics, so there’s so much that can be done with AI that can boost productivity at every level.”
Despite added complexity and costs, an increasing number of studios are also investing in multiplatform and multiplayer development to broaden their reach and enhance player engagement. The number of multiplatform games has surged by 40 percent since 2021, with even small studios embracing the strategy to broaden accessibility.
Multiplayer experiences remain highly popular too; multiplayer gaming revenue grew by $2.3 billion in 2023, a 10 percent increase. Another related trend is more games with live operations—frequently updated content and events aimed at driving engagement and motivating “battle pass” subscriptions.
“The community is the life blood of evergreen games. It’s something that you need to cultivate and encourage,” said Murari Vasudevan, Technical Director at SYBO. “Part of doing that is ensuring they have regular fresh content. For Subway Surfers, we have a three-week content update cycle that works really well for us.”
