Pocketpair Won’t Use AI in Games, Says Palworld Exec

Pocketpair says it avoids using AI in Palworld development because many players seem to strongly dislike the technology in games. Also, artists want the freedom to create independently.

As the conversations around generative AI in video games continue to ramp up, there are various takes from all sides. There are some in the industry, such as executives at PlayStation and Epic Games, who see the technology as the next big driving force in game development. There are those who absolutely hate the technology, and there are those in the middle, like Sega, who use it as placeholders during development but don’t plan to include any generated AI content in final releases.

Now, the developers of Palworld are explaining why they will never use generative AI. However, before we get into all of that, here’s how you can have the cleanest reading experience for this and all of our stories: download the free Insider Gaming App for iOS or Android.  

Palworld Lead Reveals Why Pocketpair Doesn’t Use AI

During an interview with GamesRadar+, John Buckley, Head of Publishing and Communications at Pocketpair, stated that it’s as simple as Gamers not wanting the technology used in their games. He said, “If the gamers don’t want it, I guess that’s it, right? Not much of a conversation to be had.”

Furthermore, he would say that even if you ignored the backlash the technology receives, the studio has no use for it because it has enough artists in-house. Those artists like being creative, and for Pocketpair, that’s reason enough not to replace them with AI. He also says he’s not a fan of seeing more AI-generated assets appearing in games.

“Even I, who is in the industry, I just felt like a natural, ugh, why? The rest of your game looks fine. Did you need to…? I think that’s going to be the attitude for quite a while. I think people will look at it and say, did you need to do that? Couldn’t you just do it yourself?”

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For more AI news, check out Poncle recently reconsidering their partnership with Fortnite following Epic’s embrace of AI. Also, don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.