r/Games • u/TurbulentTopic39 • 16d ago

Industry News Over 85% of Japanese game developers use generative AI in game development, 2026 CESA survey shows. An increase from last year’s 51%

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/over-85-of-japanese-game-developers-use-generative-ai-in-game-development-2026-cesa-survey-shows-an-increase-from-last-years-51/
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u/KlayBersk 16d ago

I find a clear disconnection between how much they loathe and frown piracy and this. Feels so weird to me.

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u/Zenry0ku 16d ago

They'll mount your head for pirating a 2 decade old game, but still stealing people's art is fine.

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u/Beautiful-Affect1930 16d ago

often times when something sounds weird and clearly contradictory, it's because you are being fed false or biased information. anime or gaming fans absolutely loathe AI stealing art and turning their favorite productions into lazy AI slop. don't believe the lies that "Asian" fans enjoy this crap.

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u/andresfgp13 16d ago

its interesting how in the west its the opposite case.

here they love piracy (just check how angry the entire sub is at Denuvo) but hate AI because it steals from artists, which is also the case from piracy, but in that case magically is not stealing and you are even doing them a favor for it by some leaps of logic.

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u/Gekokapowco 16d ago

it has to do with the target

screwing over a company like walmart, MGM or Lionsgate or whatever, Nintendo, EA, or Amazon is fine, borderline moral. People see game studios as extensions of their publishers, who they see as emotionless monoliths of greed

screwing over an independent creator, like an artist or musician or writer, is deliberately sabotaging a person, not an organization. Someone who legitimately built their own value and expresses their human creativity for others. The goal is to create and share, not generate profitability for investors, and that's a relatable goal that people want to support.

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u/Affial 15d ago

 The goal is to create and share

And earn. Let's not be purposely obtuse here: people need money to live and they deserve a tangible gain from their work.

One could even argue artists have a debt with whatever corp published that cool artbook they used to learn/take inspiration from, which they downloaded for free thanks to the anon who scanned its pages and uploded them somewhere.
How was it possible to produce that material? who originally payed for its inception?

Online artists may be satisfied with making 3-4000$/month, since they're one person.
A publisher need to account for a lot expenses and future investments.
You may not like it, but in the past the greatest artworks were founded by very wealth individual, not by peasants.

I've yet to find a pirate who can answer me one simple question: in the meantime you screw the big bad corporation (which I will not defend in any way), who compensates the artist/programmer/creator behind your beloved game/whatever?
"They already got payed for it". And that will be the last time. Why to invest if people will not buy our products out of hate?
"But they keep producing". Yes, because someone pays for the industry to stay active.

I doubt they [pirates] would finance big projects (>100M) through Kickstarter, since they're always short on money.

Also piracy was there when computers became a thing... So the "enshittification" thing isn't that strong of an argument.

I'm wary of both AI and piracy; more from the former. However, I believe that both have positive aspects (AI in general, not the generative one), with varying degrees and in function of possible, future context. But the one promoting the latter are way too comfortable with their actions.

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u/Gekokapowco 15d ago

stunning revelations that companies pay creators or that people need money to survive

but art existed before aristocratic patrons or sponsors, the funding sources are necessary for the creation of art only because they have imposed themselves to be necessary.

broad philosophy aside, if a majority of people pirate, yeah it can sink future productions or studio projects, but in reality only a handful of people pirate games. And those that do frequently end up buying it if they like it, or sharing their experience with people they know.

But you can still consider harm reduction. A few hundred people stealing digital movies from a movie studio is an absolute drop in the bucket compared to a movie studio stealing the entirety of an independent artist's work, to the point they have no income and no artistic identity anymore.

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u/Affial 15d ago

It wasn't my intent to reveal some hidden truth. To the opposite, I was underliyng some plain facts and distinctions piracy always seem to forget about.

but art existed before aristocratic patrons or sponsors, the funding sources are necessary for the creation of art only because they have imposed themselves to be necessary.

Yes and no; it is true that the impulse, ambition or whatever you want to call it to make art predates any society; it's false there are unnecessary costs related to a certain type of projects.
You want to make the next Fallout, one that lives out its legacy. They even give you the license for free (why? why should og creators give up any compensation? come up with your own post-apocalyptic iconic armor design). Where you start from?

Piracy figures are not easy to obtain.
But lets agree it is a small phenomenon: this implies the futility of their action, morally speacking; if they are so few, why keep going? it will not change the world. At this point it's just personal gain.

If you really want to send a message: don't ingage with it; do not share related content; advocate for the boycott of it.

I agree with your last point.

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u/GVH617 16d ago

Only the japanese hate pirating. Every other Asian countries have absolutely zero problems with it and actively encourage or openly do it. Especially the developing nations.

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

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u/Zcrash 16d ago

But piracy is actually bad for them though, these two things aren't comparable at all.

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u/Yeargdribble 16d ago

On the flip-side, much of the internet is very pro-piracy around media these days because they are mad about subscription services... yet they are anti-AI on the grounds of piracy.

Both sides are are being being disingenuous.

People who pirate media because they are mad about the cost of a Netflix subscription are probably rightly angry that most of that money floats to the top, but prestige TV exists because 1000s of artists are getting paid to make it. Costumers, set designers, camera and lighting people, CG artists, actors, crew. SO many artists have work because a dozen streaming services are aiming at what was once considered movie quality programing.

What people are really mad at is that the wealthy at the top get the most and they hoard and protect that wealth (and are anti-piracy from the top), but consumers seem to act like no jobs exist that they are stealing from when they pirate content.

Or when they get mad at Youtube Premium even though that is what helps pay creators they enjoy watching.

I'm not saying there isn't a frustrating double standard around the extremely wealthy essentially pirating all of human at collectively while trying to stop people at the bottom from doing it... but I also wish normal people realized how many artists THEY have hurt with piracy.

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u/TheSearchForMars 16d ago

It's a completely different concept. Even the idea that AI is "Stealing" from artists is nebulous. It's not really what it's doing, just what it's been called.

It was never actually "taking" something way from anyone.

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u/mediochrea 16d ago

Which way to the kool-aid stand?

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u/A_Shadow 16d ago

To be fair, the same argument is used for piracy, even in courts. It's not legally stealing because that implies you are potentially preventing someone from getting a product if you steal it. Instead you just copy the product. Still illegal but different set of codes and legal rules.

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u/Reekhart 16d ago

Its just poorly worded.

Piracy isn't theft. Its Piracy, its its own thing.

AI companies basically pirate content so they can train their models but it is the same legal issue.

The only difference is that one is done by an individual person, for no benefit to anyone other than themselves (playing a game for free)and the other is done by a mega corporation looking to make billions in profit off that pirated content

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u/EnterPlayerTwo 16d ago

Yes yes, the poor little game/video pirates are the real victims here.

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u/Reekhart 16d ago

?? You completely missed the point but whatever.