Are the gaming industry layoffs related to AI? No.

Are the gaming industry layoffs related to AI? No.

Part 1 – AI doesn’t replace R&D, and the lack of R&D caused this.

Gaming companies aren’t getting huge AI gains yet.
We’re still in the experimental phase where most gains are obscured by the time and resources needed to test and learn new processes.
Those resources? Typically a small unit is relegated to creating tools or marketing content that might help, but not fundamentally change the business.
It would take a whole new business made from scratch to fully embrace the gains. *wink wink*
Even when there are gains, they still need new talent & processes to operate them. *more winking and pointing to the comments*
And those gains? For now, there are efficiency gains.
Not creative achievements or discoveries of new business opportunities.

So what’s going on? What’s dragging the gaming sector down right now?
I believe it stems from a lack of new releases.
A lack of innovation in gameplay.
Lack of focus on the core aspect of what we do – releasing games.

This was inevitable as most studios didn’t take the need for R&D for new games seriously. You can’t soft launch a game or two a year (and no prototypes) and hope that each of them will be a hit and fuel your business.
You can’t just copy other games that are trending and expect huge gains.
You need actual dedication to the craft of new core testing, and that takes resources. (Talent, time, testing budget, focus.)

Small low-risk innovations don’t count. Those deliver some revenue, but not hit games. But it’s also a hard sell for bigger companies, so it’s understandable to run the core business with iterations rather than innovations.
Even though, given the right talent, an R&D unit far outperforms the cost “sunk” into it.
Have some studios tried? Yes.
But did they, perhaps, focus too hard on their established “must-haves” and “production quality” to the point that it might have blocked some creative outputs?

The thing is, it’s hard to truly innovate. Gets harder each year as more and more is “uncovered”, but never impossible.
Studios should have taken heed of hyper and hybrid casual gameplay innovations and taken it as a sign that it’s possible to create new games if they had dedicated fast teams shipping them out constantly.

But is this everything? No.
Let’s discuss. And if not, stay tuned.
Opinions are my own. 🤓