Game Developers Are Getting Fed Up With Their Boss’ AI Initiatives

video games The industry has been in trouble for the past year, with studio closures and job security at the forefront of developer concerns. Incremental layoffs The seemingly no end paints a bleak picture for devs, while companies are busy pumping money AI initiatives.

According to a new report by organizers of the Game Developers Conference, 52 percent of devs surveyed said they’ve worked for companies that are using Generative AI on their game. About half of the 3,000 people surveyed said they were concerned about the technology’s impact on industry, and a growing number said they felt negatively about AI overall. The State of the Game Industry report, released Tuesday, is a series of surveys conducted each year by GDC organizers ahead of their annual conference. This year’s event will be held in March in San Francisco.

The 2025 GDC report comes on the heels of a turbulent year for the industry. Even like games Astro Bot, Helldivers 2 And Balatro Success found, studio Like Microsoft And there’s Sony Retrenchment of staff And canceled game. Amid the mix of cultural and economic factors affecting the industry, developers are still dealing with companies’ enthusiasm for technology that some find morally relevant.

“I have a PhD in AI, worked on developing some of the algorithms used by generative AI,” one developer wrote. “I deeply regret how naively I offered my contributions.”

About 30 percent of developers who responded to the survey said they felt negatively about AI, up from 18 percent last year; Only 13 percent believe AI is having a positive impact on games, down from 21 percent in 2024. “No matter how you say it, generative AI is not a great replacement for real people and quality will suffer,” another developer wrote in their response.

For developers, there’s AI possible Respondents said it helped with a range of tasks, including coding, concept art and 3D model generation, but when asked what use they made of AI in the industry, “the most frequently used word in their responses was ‘none,'” GDC organizers wrote.

In theory, generative AI could help some developers reduce their workload. That’s not happening. Instead, developers are said to be working longer than their years. 13 percent of respondents reported putting in 51-plus-hour weeks, up from 8 percent of respondents last year. While these extra hours can be attributed to devs taking on extra work for colleagues lost during the massive industry-wide layoffs of 2024, many have expressed concern that AI was also a factor. “We should be using generative AI to help people do their jobs faster, not lose them,” wrote one activist.

pruning, The story of art For the past few years, still creates a huge problem. “Live to 25,” the mantra for struggling developers, did little to help those who lost their jobs According to the survey, one in every 10 developers has been laid off in the past year. There was also an increase in “N/A” responses: “The question didn’t apply because they were already laid off or otherwise unemployed. In other words, it wasn’t a concern now because, in some way, it had already happened to them.”