AI and Games
Game AI research and practical applications for developers, by Tommy Thompson.
Documents
Does PlayStation's New AI Plan Make Sense?
The integration of artificial intelligence into the gaming industry presents a complex paradox, characterized by rising production costs and significant ethical friction.
- PlayStation's strategy for AI involves using it as a tool to 'amplify' human imagination and minimize costs, rather than replacing artists or creators, with a focus on value creation and growth.
- Sony's financial results for the 2025/26 fiscal year indicate that while PlayStation is performing well overall, AI is both a cause of challenges (e.g., impact on component costs) and a proposed solution.
- Sony is collaborating with Bandai Namco to use Generative AI to address issues of 'lack of consistency and controllability,' particularly concerning style in specific domains like manga and anime adaptations.
Next Level: A Warm and Encouraging Introduction to Procedural Generation
The primary purpose of this analysis is to review Dr. Mike Cook’s book, Next Level: Making Games That Make Themselves, while providing a broader update on the state of artificial intelligence within the global video game industry as of May 2026.
- Xbox has discontinued its Copilot AI tool for mobile and console, following a largely unnoticed PC launch last year, as new head Asha Sharma staffs the leadership team with four members from Microsoft's CoreAI.
- Blender faced user backlash for accepting a corporate donation from AI company Anthropic, and while they announced they were surprised and need to address AI intersection, they are keeping the money as a one-off donation.
- Roblox introduced 'Roblox Reality,' a hybrid architecture using a video generation layer and AI models to re-render existing games for higher visual fidelity, a concept previously pitched by Stadia in 2019 for style transfer.
Multi-Surface Pathfinding in Alien: Rogue Incursion
The development of Alien: Rogue Incursion, a virtual reality title released between 2024 and 2025, presented significant technical challenges regarding non-player character navigation.
- Alien: Rogue Incursion, a VR game released in December 2024 (Steam/PSVR2) and February 2025 (Meta Quest 3), features xenomorphs that pathfind across multiple surfaces (walls, ceilings, vents) and jump between geometry.
- The game initially attempted to adapt Recast navigation meshes for multi-surface pathfinding, but this approach was abandoned after six months due to limitations with complex level geometry and surface transitions.
- A custom graph-based navigation system was developed for multi-surface pathfinding, working alongside traditional floor nav-meshes. This system required significant input from level designers to define crawl paths and custom waypoint types for interactions.
AI Being Re-Evaluated at Xbox
The April 2026 analysis examines the strategic pivot at Xbox under new leadership, specifically focusing on the "We Are Xbox" memo issued by CEO Asha Sharma and CCO Matt Booty.
- Xbox's new leadership, Asha Sharma and Matt Booty, are re-evaluating the company's approach to exclusivity, windowing, and AI, with a new focus on 'daily active players' as their primary metric.
- Microsoft's aggressive push to become an AI company has negatively impacted Xbox, leading to studio shutdowns, game cancellations, and price increases, as the company reportedly aimed for an unrealistic 30% profit margin.
- The Steam Controller's release is unaffected by the current RAM shortage, unlike other hardware, because it does not contain RAM.
The AI-Driven RAM Crisis Explained: Part 1
The gaming industry is currently navigating a severe hardware supply crisis characterized by significant price volatility and component shortages.
- The surge in AI-related business activity, particularly Generative AI, has led to a 'RAM crisis' (dubbed RAMpocalypse or RAMmageddon), causing increased costs for computing components and consumer products.
- High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), essential for AI processing, re-uses traditional DRAM technology but is built with vertical stacking for 10x-15x higher throughput, making it highly desirable for AI models that process hundreds of GBs of data quickly.
- The manufacturing of memory chips (DRAM and NAND) and other semiconductors is incredibly expensive and time-consuming, with lead times of months and a limited number of specialized fabrication plants (fabs) worldwide (fewer than 100 for cutting-edge chips).
The Need for Governance and Strategy on AI's Impact in Game Dev
The video game industry currently faces a critical need for formal governance and strategic planning regarding the integration of artificial intelligence.
- Game studios need clear AI governance and strategy to move from the current "chaos phase" to a "usable phase," ensuring AI complements teams, is IP and legally safe, and ethically sound.
- Many AI tools currently available are poorly built, lack enterprise costing, have operational security concerns, or feature problematic legal terms, with Keywords Studios testing 500 tools but finding only about half a dozen production-ready.
- A lack of AI controls and governance contributes to developer concerns, as companies often fail to explain their AI strategy, leading to uncertainty about job security and acceptable tool usage.