Palworld Dev On AI: “Gamers Don’t Want It”

John Buckley, the outspoken communications lead for Palworld developer Pocketpair, has commented on the hot-button issue of AI in gaming.

Speaking to GamesRadar, Buckley said, "Gamers don't want it. And if the gamers don't want it, I guess that's it, right? Not much of a conversation to be had."

Using AI technologies for game development is "not really for us," Buckley said.

He went on to say he understands some companies are employing AI systems to help save time. Buckley said he wouldn't call the AI craze a "bubble," but he's not sure "how much longer it's going to keep up."

For games that use AI to make art, Buckley said he questions why a studio would do that. "There's no reason to get rid of [our in-house artists] for the sake of an AI doing it. Just seems pointless," he said.

Pocketpair is not embracing AI.

Finally, Buckley said one "dystopian" future he can see for games and AI and is that studios would label their games "100% human made" to help people know if AI tools were used in development. Buckley said the prospect of such a thing makes him sad.

Today, developers can disclose the use of generative AI on Steam, but it is not a requirement. Tim Sweeney, the billionaire CEO and owner of Epic Games and the Epic Games Store, has pushed back on the Steam AI disclosure section of a game's store page. He said this "makes no sense" because virtually all games use AI in some way, shape, or form.

Steam's AI disclosure section helped make headlines recently after people discovered two games from Summer Game Fest, Crazy Taxi: World Tour and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, used AI in development.

Earlier this year, new data from Circana showed that most gamers do not care about the use of generative AI in video games and that a vocal minority is making a lot of noise on the subject. At the same time, there is a growing share of people who say they are more likely than before to refuse to buy a game if they found out it uses generative AI. This is likely connected to the growing trend of people rebelling against AI in all facets of life.

In terms of how developers feel about the use of generative AI, a GDC study from earlier this year found that more than 50% of developers think generative AI is a threat to the video game industry. This represented an increase from 30% from the previous year’s study. Only 7% of respondents said the use of generative AI in game development had a positive impact.