Google has released a video trailer of Project Genie. It is an artificial intelligence (AI) capable of creating interactive virtual worlds in a short time through textual or image instructions. The so-called prompts, in short. Once generated, these worlds can be explored through an avatar character, which can also be created via prompts.
Google never mentions video games in relation to Project Genie, but it is clear that the virtual worlds it refers to are reminiscent of video game ones. And in fact shortly after the publication of the video, many companies in the sector have suffered sharp drops on the stock market. Among them are Take-Two, Roblox Corporation and Unity, which have registered losses of between 12% and 20% of the value of their shares.
We are talking respectively about the GTA companies, Roblox and one of the graphics engines most used by developers. This is because, according to the potential expressed in the video, Project Genie manages to do a job in just a few seconds that requires specialized professionals and months of programming, modeling and so on.
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The impact of artificial intelligence on the gaming industry
A new alarm for developers, increasingly worried about the spread of artificial intelligence. Already in 2024, Mike Rosefounder of No More Robots, stated on Edge: “We will definitely see more and more studios using AI more openly in their games next year, which will create a basis for this technology to be used more and more in the coming years. Some studios will use it horribly, others will try to be more ethical about it. But either way, it’s happening.”
Today, according to a Google study, around 90% of gaming companies use AI. Even virtuous studios such as Larian, known for Baldur’s Gate 3, have admitted to using artificial intelligence in the initial stages of development, specifically for the creation of the concept. This term refers to the initial vision of a game, therefore a combination of ideas, themes and key mechanics that will characterize identity, aesthetics and experience. An expression that the gaming community did not like.
Project Genie therefore risks exacerbating an already serious situation within an extremely competitive sector such as the videogame sector. An industry which, after the boom during the pandemic, finds itself in crisis due to exorbitant budgets and the need to cover expenses. Just think of GTA 6, whose development cost Rockstar and Take-Two more than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, or the average budget for a PlayStation 5 exclusive, around $300 million. An AI like Project Genie instead of human employees would make it possible to amortize business costs.
Not only that. AI could become the main tool through which to create video games of the future. “We will see a real transformation in development and creative outcomes when AI-driven design begins to create truly unique AI experiences, rather than just accelerating traditional workflows,” he told Reuters Joost van Dreunenprofessor of video games at New York University’s Stern School of Business. At the moment these are only hypotheses. Project Genie is only available in the United States via subscription. For now, American users are enjoying creating clones of GTA, Zelda and other video game worlds.
