Speaking at a recent technology conference in San Francisco, Electronic Art’s CEO – Andrew Wilson – spoke at length about the use of generative AI in game development. He spoke positively about the recent trends that have seen AI impact or replace processes altogether, using real-world examples from EA’s projects to bolster his standpoint. In recent weeks, EA has been in the press because of extensive layoffs, cancellations, and shutdowns within the firm – and this latest line hasn’t filled fans with confidence.

While talking on stage during the event, Wilson suggested that as much as 60% of all development processes could be ‘positively impacted’ by AI. He pointed out that the company is looking favourably at increasing the use of AI across the business, with goals of using AI to get to market faster and pull in more than one billion gamers across EA’s network. It was a dollars-and-cents discussion that ultimately ended with Wilson talking about the monetary gains that could be achieved by using AI much more prominently.

The Future of Games Development

Andrew Wilson spoke highly of generative AI, outlining three core pillars that Electronic Arts is trying to shore up through the use of artificial intelligence. These ‘core vectors’ are efficiency, expansion, and transformation. He explained that what once took six weeks can now take six days with AI. In the most recent EA Sports FC title, developers were able to implement 1,200 ‘run cycles’ for players on the pitch using AI. In the previous game, there were just 12 run cycles present.

This expansion and efficiency effort is company-wide, it was revealed. Wilson and his leadership team have a desire to increase company efficiency by more than 30% in the next three years. By doing this, the company hopes that it can get games on the shelves much faster but without compromising on quality, thus encouraging millions more players to enter EA’s network:

‘The math that we’re doing right now is we have 700 million people in our network. We think it’s not unreasonable to at least get 50% more people as a result of personalisation, culturalisation, deeper, more immersive experiences. We’re watching right now how generative AI impacts monetisation on other platforms, and what we’re seeing is where there is real personalised content, bespoke to me and bespoke to my friends, monetisation is 10 to 20% greater.’

Recently, Electronic Arts laid off more than 5% of its global workforce, shutting down several in-development projects and sunsetting some games on the market. It was a drastic move to make efficiencies across the board, addressing the ongoing financial concerns of the wider industry. Electronic Arts hasn’t been alone in this, but no other organisation’s CEO has laid off this many staff and then immediately taken to a tech conference to talk about leveraging artificial intelligence to make further efficiencies.

For more industry news, stay tuned to Esports.net