A recent survey carried out by content production studio, Virtuos, as part of its Save Point Report has found that almost three in four games industry decision makers are planning to expand investment in AI. When asked what technologies their studio was planning to increase investment in over the next 12 months, 73% of the 250 senior decision makers cited artificial intelligence as the priority.
In the same survey, 54% of those questioned also predicted that all art content in games would be AI-produced rather than artist-produced in the next 12 months. That’s a substantial shift to past attitudes to art creation.
Additionally, 72% said they planned to invest more in Virtual Reality while only 54% were keen to invest in Augmented Reality. 63% also expressed investment plans relating to cloud computing, suggesting that cloud gaming and streaming could see growth in the coming year despite gamers being seemingly uninterested in the prospect.
Other new technologies that studios are keen to invest more in include cutting edge photogrammetry or 3D scanning with 61% keen to increase investment in those areas.
Understandably, such expansions also mean that just over half of those surveyed (53%) said they would be investing more in remote co-development of games over the next 12 months, presumably to ensure that specialist technologies can be more appropriately implemented in games.
Gilles Langourieux, CEO at Virtuos, notes that these are only the first results from its Save Point Report, however, “[they] are a great indicator of where the industry is investing, with games hosting more complex and detailed art work and models.”
Story by Jennifer Allen.