Will game studios survive the AI revolution?

A recent Google Cloud study found that 87% of game developers are already using AI to build games faster. But will all studios adapt and survive this shift?

This article looks at both sides of AI in gaming – how it's helping developers deal with impossible costs, and how it's creating entirely new kinds of games.

Modern game development is going through a hidden crisis

For many studios, the old way of making games doesn't work anymore. They're caught between rising costs and the struggle to get players' attention in a crowded market.

Development costs and production times have gone up dramatically. Players expect better graphics and more complex gameplay, and competition is fierce. Even successful games might not make enough profit, putting more pressure on studios of all sizes.

What is making the money problem even worse is the fight for player attention. With so many new games coming out all the time, it's extremely hard for new titles to find an audience.

Players stick with older games

The data shows that players now spend over half their gaming time on games that are more than six years old. This loyalty to established games means the huge investments needed to create new titles are riskier than ever. New games are competing for a smaller piece of players' time.

According to Jack Buser, global games director at Google Cloud, this combination of higher costs and fragmented player attention is a big threat. He warns that as AI becomes more common in the industry, studios that can't adapt might not survive.

“Some of these game companies are going to make it, and some of them are not,” Buser told Decrypt. “And some are going to be born through this revolution.”

AI is becoming critical for developers

Game developers are using AI to stay in business and try new ideas. The old way of making games costs too much money. That's also why they're adding AI to their everyday work, as it helps them work faster, spend less, and do things they couldn't do before.

Recent research shows an industry in the middle of a tech revolution. A survey from The Harris Poll, commissioned by Google, found that nine out of 10 developers are already using AI tools in their processes. This adoption rate shows how essential AI has become in a short time, moving from a niche idea to a standard tool.

87% of studios use AI agents

Looking deeper, the survey also shows that 87% of developers specifically use AI agents to streamline and automate complex tasks. These agents handle repetitive work and process huge amounts of information.

Studios use AI to tackle some of the most time-consuming parts of game creation.

According to the data, developers apply AI to many different tasks. Nearly half use it for automated playtesting (47%) and content optimization, while others use it for translation (45%) and code generation (44%).

“In particular, 47% of  developers report that it is speeding up playtesting and balancing of mechanics, 45% say it is assisting in localization and translation of game content, and 44% cite it for improving code generation and scripting support,” according to Google Cloud.

With the old model failing, studios see AI as the best path to financial stability. An overwhelming 94% of developers believe that using AI in their workflows will lower overall development costs in the long term.

AI-native gaming and its new challenges

As AI becomes a normal part of making games, we're seeing the start of "AI-native" games - not just games made more efficiently with AI, but games that couldn't exist without it.

But this big change brings tough questions about ethics and practical problems that game companies need to figure out.

Facing new ethical concerns

As AI's role expands from a simple tool to a creative partner, it raises fundamental questions about ownership, intellectual property, and the impact on human workers.

One of the biggest hurdles is the unresolved issue of data ownership. A majority of developers — 63% in one survey — have expressed concerns about who legally owns content generated by AI.

We still don't have clear rules about who owns AI-created game content or how to handle data privacy. This leaves everyone unsure about what's allowed and what isn't.

How Remāngu helps game studios adapt

Remāngu is a cloud platform for game developers that solves the hardware problem. Instead of buying expensive workstations that quickly become outdated, teams use Remāngu to access development environments in the cloud.

The platform works with Unreal Engine and runs on AWS. It handles the technical setup so developers can focus on making games rather than managing infrastructure.

Remāngu directly addresses the cost issues mentioned in the Google survey by moving development to the cloud. Teams can work together remotely on the same projects without security concerns.

Try Remāngu with a 14-day free trial at www.remangu.com.