Gamers Are Overwhelmingly Negative About Gen AI in Video Games: Attitudes by Demographics and Motivations

Quantic Foundry's survey of 1,799 gamers, fielded October through December 2025 and drawn mostly from core PC and console players, finds overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward generative AI in video games. Some 85% of respondents rated it below neutral, and 63% chose the most negative option. That skew is more extreme than the 79% negativity toward blockchain games recorded in a 2024 survey. Negativity toward AI-generated quests and dialogue climbed from 46% to roughly 77–83% within a year, indicating a rapid hardening of opinion.

Attitudes differ by demographics and motivations. Women, non-binary respondents, and younger gamers are more negative; only 3% of 13–17-year-olds were positive, compared with 22% of those aged 45 and older. Motivation profiles matter as well: the Power motivation correlates positively with acceptance (r=.15), while Story and Design motivations correlate negatively (r=-.12). Opposition is strongest for creative applications such as art, music, and narrative, while non-creative uses like dynamic difficulty adjustment draw comparatively more openness, at 26% positive and 24% neutral.

Public reaction following publication largely reinforced these findings. Press coverage repeated the headline figures, though some outlets misstated the sample size as millions of respondents, and commenters mostly voiced ethical objections about training on copyrighted material and a preference for human creativity. A minority defended generative AI as a way for small studios to reduce costs and broaden their ambitions, and one suggested future surveys probe less visible uses such as programming assistance. Coverage and discussion extended into April 2026.

The findings are limited to a self-selected sample of engaged gamers over a single late-2025 window, so they reflect core-player sentiment rather than the broader market, but they signal significant reputational risk for studios adopting generative AI in creative functions.