Why AI Isn’t The New Crypto In Gaming

Putting it mildly, independent game developers are an instinctively anti-crypto and NFT band and now, as a seemingly natural progression, AI is on the receiving end of their ire. But they’re not like for like, so why? Surely game devs aren’t just waiting in the wings to bash all nascent technologies?

Cryptobros did their best to infiltrate the games space to peddle their wares, focusing on transactional opportunities over the enhancement of the gaming experience. Powered by serial entrepreneurs with little-to-no experience in the sector (or love) they just pushed their hot new currencies offering nowt different to any of the others. They promised much and gave little and devs have just concluded crypto amounts to a scam.

Game devs have been relentlessly pitched to by NFT and blockchain companies – few of them worthwhile either. The big Web3 games don’t earn nearly as much rev as appearances would suggest, and many are scratching around trying to salvage their big ideas or look for the next big thing. They’ve been further tarnished by a few decisions by big publishers to grab an even bigger slice of the pie.

As a result, developers are once-bitten, twice shy of ‘new tech’. They just see little in the way of support of art or facilitation of fun. GDC’s 2023 State of the Industry report suggests 75% of developers have no interest in blockchain with 56% actively opposed to it. With little appreciation of what gets developers and players up in the morning, it’s no surprise AI has had a bit of a pitchfork welcome from game developers. 

I want to argue that not all AIs are equal (whilst some are more equal than others). Not every AI is derivative with ‘room for improvement’ in honouring copyright. There are some killer tools out there that simply exist to help game developers without chewing them up and spitting them out! Tools that are able to save buckets of time and money and help to segue new blood into the industry. 

The main differentiator is that many of these AI utilities have been created by people who’ve worked in the games sector themselves and LOVE it. They’ve spotted a need, they know the pitfalls and the challenges in creating a game intimately. When my co-founder and I were developing games we always hit a wall with our lack of 3D skills: having characters modelled, rigged and animated with all inherent behaviours is no picnic, it’s a massive cost to outlay. These experiences sparked our idea for a tool to bring infinite static assets to life without having to face a relentless barrage of technical and financial barriers. 

So fellow game developers – please don’t bash or condemn all AI in the games space. When building our AI systems, we fully respect the rights of the authors of original 3D models and credit them appropriately. Our internal datasets and public-facing asset libraries only use 3D models with a compatible licence, we always respect the required terms and attribute original authors in models offered in our library. And we’re certainly not alone in this respect for original creators and copyright holders.

A lot of us in the AI crew are just working away to improve the 3D animation and game development process and your pipeline – whilst empowering you to be more creative and level up your powers! And who doesn’t want to cut out time-sucking tasks and cut down your costs?