Esteemed game designer Nintendo's Masahiro Sakurai recently shared insightful thoughts on the challenges of game development in an engaging interview with Yahoo Japan. He expressed his concerns over the unsustainable nature of current development practices and proposed that generative AI might hold the key to transforming the industry. As gaming grows ever more elaborate, both in scope and visual fidelity, Sakurai believes that AI could lighten the financial load faced by developers. Here’s what he had to say:
“Frankly speaking, the future is very unclear. I do feel that this situation cannot continue as it is,” he said. “At present, the only effective breakthrough I can think of is the utilization of generative AI.”
“We are now at a stage where we must change the development framework itself, such as by improving work efficiency through the use of generative AI. It may become an era where only companies that can successfully adapt to this change will be able to survive,” he observed.
“In the past, if someone worked in design they might move on to get experience as a planner, but now everyone is so specialized,” he explained. “It’s hard to grow a wide variety of skills.”
“At present, more than ten thousand titles are released each year, making it extremely difficult for any single game to stand out. In order to succeed in the market, great effort, luck, high quality, and distinctiveness are also required.”
Comparing the situation to that of legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki, he remarked, “Mr. Miyazaki performs work that only he is capable of doing. His path is not something that others can simply follow or imitate. On the contrary, what is important is to compete by forging entirely different paths.”