“It’s not the sole approach to game creation”
- by Jim Norman
Undeniably, it’s one of the most pressing issues in the gaming sector at present, so it was only a matter of time before Doug Bowser, the president of Nintendo of America, was questioned about the rise of AI in game development during his series of Switch 2 interviews. Fortunately, his reply was refreshingly pro-human.
Bowser (not that one) discussed the applications of AI within the gaming industry with CNBC‘s Steve Kovach at the recent Switch 2 hands-on event in New York, noting that it can be employed in the workplace to assist with aspects like productivity: “even in my organization, it can be used to improve productivity and how we accomplish tasks.” That said, he asserted that “it’s not the sole approach to game creation” and confirmed that in Nintendo projects, “there’s always, always, going to be a human element and a human involvement in how we design and craft our games.”
“What makes our games unique is our developers, their artistic talents and their understanding of how people play,” Bowser conveyed to the American media outlet, so don’t expect to see any Nintendo-supported bots trying their hand at Mario anytime soon.
CNBC published the full interview as a video online, though you can find a transcript of Bowser’s response to the AI question below:
I’m often a bit hesitant to speak on behalf of the developers because I want them to concentrate on their craft and what we create. But for those who consider genuine experience in general to start with, as we look at technology, we usually want to ensure that the technology we are able to utilize — whether it’s in the creation of our games or within our devices — will enhance gameplay experience. It starts there and returns to those smiles I was talking about generating, so that’s a crucial aspect of our decision-making process in how to utilize AI. Obviously, AI is quite popular right now, it’s being implemented extensively in a variety of different ways — it can be utilized in increased productivity, even in my organization it can be used to enhance productivity and the way we accomplish tasks, so there’s one application — but what I would say is, if developers choose to employ AI, and this is a current discussion at Nintendo, it’s not the primary method of creating games. We still believe that what makes our games special is our developers, their creative abilities and their insight into how people engage with games, so there’s always, always going to be a human touch and a human involvement in how we