One of the most unexpected stands in an industry where artificial intelligence is rapidly gaining ground was taken by Nintendo. Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of classic franchises like Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda, discussed Nintendo’s approach to AI in respect to game development. As AI quickly finds its way into top gaming studios, Miyamoto claims in a recent interview that his company is not budging.
Nintendo-style AI
Speaking with The New York Times, via Dexerto, Miyamoto mused about all the ways AI could be implemented into game development. Like so many developers adopting AI to speed up processes and lower costs, Miaymoto has stressed that from a Nintendo standpoint – they are not going there.
I pointed to the company’s decades-long trend of doing things frustratingly differently from everyone else, and suggested that maybe AI might be a thing Nintendo would use next gen for creating games.
That outlook reflects comments made by Nintendo’s current president who in the past has expressed that its goal as a company is to provide a new value that “maybe technology alone could not produce.” While Nintendo is far from being about the cutting-edge of technology, it has always been about human experience, and that will be what makes its games timeless.
AI: The Game Industry’s Next Destination
On the other hand, AI is being quickly making its way to various parts of game production by the broader gaming industry. According to a recent report by Unity, 62% of game studios are already using AI to some degree.
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Unsurprisingly, the use of AI is making some in the gaming industry uneasy since this could easily mean job losses and restructuring. Not only can generative AI create game assets, and in some cases characters, but it also directly threatens many jobs in the field of game development.
Rightly, at the same time, the worry over AI in the gaming industry is not unfound. In addition, Magic: The Gathering has recently come under fire for using AI-generated artwork in certain of its designs (video). For example, EA demonstrated AI tools to generate creative assets for games by giving verbal commands during a showcase earlier this year. This, while trimming the time and effort to build games, also leaves an overarching concern for creative careers in gaming.
Why Nintendo Stands Out
It may come as quite a surprise that Nintendo is not gung-ho on AI, but its decision aligns with the company’s history. Nintendo has long operated under the philosophy that fun and creativity beat cutting edge graphics, sky-high polygon counts, or being the best-looking game a console can run.
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Yes, games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Animal Crossing: New Horizons may not be made with realistic graphics in mind, but it does have something that many AI-driven high budget game is simply lacking… heart and personality.
Now just this week, we saw comments from Miyamoto that suggest such a philosophy continues. As much as AI can change the world in diverse ways, it still cannot replace the personal touch Nintendo places high importance on. But at least for now, Nintendo can still be counted among the few major publishers willing to put human creativity and storytelling above automation and efficiency.
What the Future Holds
Even though it seems unlikely that Nintendo would adopt AI right now, this technology is here to stay. That being said, we can certainly see Nintendo potentially changing their stance in the future because AI is simply going to get better and more versatile. In the meantime, Nintendo fans can breathe a sigh of relief that their beloved games will continue to be made by living people.
Although Generative AI is a relatively recent innovation, its potential is boundless. Others believe it to be the next step in game design that will cut down production time and allow for more expansive worlds. For Nintendo, however, the question becomes – can AI ever be as magical as a human being?
It remains to be seen if other studios will follow Nintendo s lead in the twilight of as the games industry becomes, or leans more heavily on AI to speed up production. At this point, while Nintendo is a brand like no other in gaming and creativity/invention flows through the company from its boardrooms rather than lines of code.
As gaming gets more technical, it is nice to see a company like Nintendo who really emphasizes the human connection in games. There is the future in AI but Nintendo reminds us that people will be indispensable for making magic happen on some days.
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