Amazon Games CEO touts benefits of AI as video games “don’t really have acting”

In the wake of its position as one of the most valuable companies in the world, Amazon has been trying to break into the video games industry through the acquisition of Twitch, the creation of its Amazon Luna streaming service, and of course the launch of Amazon Games. Unfortunately, the company’s relative newness within the industry has led to some highly out-of-touch statements from Amazon Games CEO – especially with regards to generative AI.

In an interview conducted by IGN, Amazon Games boss Christoph Hartmann sat down to discuss all manner of topics, ranging from the company’s upcoming Lord of the Rings MMO to their recent acquisition of the Tomb Raider IP.

Perhaps most interesting however was Hartmann’s opinions on the rise of generative AI as a replacement for various aspects of game development, saying in response to a question on the current SAG-AFTRA voice actors strike relating to AI:

“When we talk about AI, first of all, hopefully it will help us to have new gameplay ideas, which has nothing to do with taking work away from anyone. And especially for games, we don't really have acting… The majority of the team sits in programming and that's not going to go away because that's all about innovation. If it takes something, it will be really the boring parts.”

Hartmann continued, “I think what could be super helpful is localization. Right now, we're localizing our game into a certain set of languages. Basically, does it commercially make sense to have it in a language, yes or no? Having AI actually will help us.”

Beyond the baffling statement that games “don’t really have acting,” Hartmann’s claimed benefits for AI would still take away a whole sector of the game development industry – that being localisation – while likely doing a terrible job at it. The full, and lengthy, interview can be found HERE.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of this statement? Will Hartmann be compelled to respond? Does generative AI belong in game development? Let us know down below.

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