When Google unveiled a new look at its experimental Project Genie generative AI tool earlier this year, AAA game companies like Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive saw their stock prices take a noticeable hit. After all, why would you need thousands of developers to make big, explorable worlds when Google promised that kind of interactivity could be generated with mere text prompts?
But Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick doesn’t sound worried about Project Genie or similar generative AI projects in a new interview with The Game Business.
“I was kind of stunned by the market’s reaction, because the market’s reaction was somehow seeing it as a threat to what we do, when it’s quite obvious that creation tools are beneficial for our industry,” Zelnick told The Game Business Show host Christopher Dring in a new video interview. “I think the bear case for big entertainment companies is somehow that AI tools will mean everyone can create hits, doesn’t stand to reason.
“These tools may help you create assets, but that won’t help you create hits. There are loads of assets out there now. It doesn’t matter if you push a button to create an asset, or it takes you six weeks, at the end of the day, you have an asset. And thousands of mobile games are launched every year, and there are a handful of hits.”
