There's no doubt that one of the most talked about topics at last week's Gamescom Asia x Thai Game Show was Dead Space creator Glen Schofield's opening speech: on his plans to “fix” the industry in part by using generative artificial intelligence in game development. In addition to talking to SchofieldIGN spoke with another industry veteran, Megan Morgan Junio, to get her thoughts on the controversial practice, which has been seen before. anger of Call of Duty fansbut also major support from gaming industry executives such as EA CEO Andrew Wilson.
“I think if we don't embrace this, I think we'll sell ourselves short,” said Juinio, who recently vacated her position as director of product development at Santa Monica Studio after 10 years and two wildly successful God of War games. “AI is a tool and something that will complement us. At least that's how I see it for now. It's going to evolve whether you agree with it or not, so I want to be at the forefront of helping lead how that happens and how we use it.”
Juinio compared the use of generative AI to the procedurally generated content that has been part of game development for decades, pointing to SpeedTree—a real-time tree generation tool—that was used back in 2002 for foliage in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. She also recalled a time when animators opposed motion capture and the use of procedural generation to blend animation frames rather than inputting them by hand. Both procedurally generated assets and animation have long been standard practice in game development, and Junio seems equally confident that generative AI will have its place as well.
“Personally, I’m very positive,” Juinio said. “Like [Glen Schofield said in his keynote address]this is the next big technological advancement that is coming. In fact, it's already here, and I think it's up to us as leaders in the video game industry to figure it out. Maybe we do it with AI, but must We? And that's a decision-making process on a case-by-case basis, and what's true for game X may not be true next year for game Y.”
When asked if she believes the growing adoption of generative AI could help mitigate the rising costs of developing AAA games, Junio made it clear that using AI in game development is unlikely to be the end-all be-all to the post-pandemic model of regular studio closures and the blockbuster gaming bubble burst.
“I wouldn't put it in an either/or scenario because to me the size, scale and beauty of the game is not what matters most,” Juinio said. “Essentially a game [needs] be cheerful. [Ideally] At its core, the story is fantastic, it's human, players connect with it, and it's fun to play.”
“And yes, it looks beautiful, and yes, the music is exciting. But the music can be really exciting and the gameplay may not be very good, or the story [might] not be interesting, and I don't think it will resonate as well with players. So, at least for now, I don't see AI replacing the fun gameplay that is at the core of games like God of War.”
While Junio seems to be convinced that generative AI in game development is here to stay, she also remains confident that it will never be able to compete with the heart and soul that can only come from the human touch, and that the adoption of AI will only be positive if an equal amount of investment is made into developers to help them get the best results from it.
“At the end of the day, you still need game developers to come up with ideas,” Juinio said. “The story of God of War is very much a human story, based on human experience.”
“At least for today, I don’t think it’s going to go away.”
Earlier this month, the creators of Battlefield 6 said that there was currently no way to implement the use of generative AI into the daily work of the development team, despite finding the emerging technology “very tempting”.
Indeed, the debate over generative AI extends beyond in-game assets. At the beginning of October, Nintendo issues statement in response to generative AI claimsand OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called Sora 2's copyrighted character videos “interactive fan fiction.”
Tristan Ogilvy is a senior video editor at IGN's Sydney office. He attended Gamescom Asia x Thai Game Show 2025 as a guest of the event organizer.
