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Pocketpair, the studio behind the popular survival game Palworld, has distanced itself from controversial generative AI in new comments from its head of publishing and communications, John Buckley.
Speaking to GamesRadar, he recognises there's a big divide on the topic, but thinks the audience generally isn't interested in seeing AI-made stuff in their games.
"Gamers don't want it," Buckley says, "and if the gamers don't want it, I guess that's it, right? Not much of a conversation to be had."
While acknowledging that it's being utilised elsewhere, he confirms Pocketpair isn't using any generative AI to make its games.
"I'm sure some people are doing it. It's not really for us. I personally can't imagine it ever being too prominent. I'm sure there are some companies out there, some big companies, that are maybe using it to 'save time.' I don't know. I don't really think gen AI has much – I don't want to call it a bubble, but I don't know how much longer it's gonna keep up. Even Steam is pushing back a certain amount on it."
Indeed, Steam mandates that game listings must disclose whether generative AI is used during production. This has highlighted many upcoming titles that use the tech, although the extent to which it's used varies wildly from one to the next.
For example, Crazy Taxi: World Tour quickly drew criticism after a generative AI disclaimer was found on its Steam page. It transpires the team is using it to quickly draw up assets for reference before working on the actual art by hand.
While it's clearly becoming more commonplace, for Buckley, the utility of generative AI is questionable. "We have a lot of artists in-house," he says. "They like doing stuff themselves. There's no reason to get rid of them for the sake of an AI doing it. Just seems pointless."
He also mentions how Asian teams (generally speaking) seem to be more willing to incorporate the tech in their work.
"Not saying I am, but there are some markets that are a lot more willing to adapt than some others, and I think that's where the clashing will come," he says. "Two to three years from now, we'll see a bigger clash in that regard. Certainly in the West, I think people will remain pretty against [it] for a while."