The future of gaming is 'Roblox-like platforms with AI prompts,' former Square Enix exec says

AI will transform gaming into a prompt-driven experience where users can freely customize experiences on-the-fly, former Square Enix exec Jacob Navok predicts.

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AI is here, but the technology doesn't have a lot of applications for gaming. At least, not yet. Microsoft is investing big into AI tech, and plans to use generative AI to make and play video games--Microsoft signed a multi-year deal to use InWorld gen AI to make quests and dialog for games, as well as its own in-house gen AI called Muse. Other publishers like Electronic Arts are investing into generative AI, whereas platform-holders like Sony are using AI and machine learning on new graphics-upscaling technologies like PlayStation Spectral Resolution Scaling.

EA's investment could better represent the future of gaming, though. Last year, EA demoed gen AI tech to investors that used chat prompts to change gameplay in real-time. Users could chat with EA's AI bot, lay out what they wanted to see in the game mode or map, and AI would adjust everything within seconds. This, according to a former Square Enix director, is the kind of gaming that we'll see sometime soon.

"The next step is Roblox-like platforms built with AI prompts where kids just enter the type of entertainment they want. They will build a Matrix-like world in five to ten years. Epic will as well," Navok wrote in a lengthy Twitter post on the games industry. Navok currently serves as CEO of Genvid Technologies, a firm that helped make interactive games like DC Heroes United and Silent Hill Ascension.

Navok makes the case that games like Roblox and Fortnite are so big that their totalities eclipse the platforms that they serve. AI will help streamline content delivery in a way that's customized to players, thereby magnifying the social effect to emerging generations, but also keeping the games' origin generations in tow for decades to come.

"The ultimate ticking time bomb is Roblox and UEFN as the generations that grow up with it continue to stay. I return to the Grow a Garden growth.

"This is not coincidence. Gamers who are happy with Roblox and UEFN will stay with it, just as the YouTube generation of kids continues to watch YouTube. This platform effect, Metcalfe's law, is the future of games, and will continue to grow."

The entire thread is well worth a read if you have a curiosity for the video games industry.