Sony is partnering with Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. (the parent company of Bandai Namco Entertainment) on a “collaborative pilot initiative” focused on generative AI and its role in the future of video production. AI was a big theme in the company’s latest earnings and corporate strategy presentation, with Sony President and CEO Hiroki Totoki describing the technology as an “amplifier of human imagination and a catalyst for new possibilities,” while insisting that it won’t replace artists or creators.
On the gen AI project with Bandai Namco — which admittedly sounds quite vague and may well not go anywhere — Totoki said the companies have seen “massive gains in speed and productivity per person.” He also highlighted “a lack of consistency and controllability” as an issue for professionals in the space who demand both of these things in their work, but said AI has allowed those involved in the project to achieve a level of sophistication in production that wasn’t previously possible due to time constraints.
Given Bandai Namco’s association with video games, the fact that Totoki didn’t explicitly talk about gaming with regards to the Gen AI project seems a bit odd (then again, it is a thorny topic right now). Sony Interactive Entertainment chief Hideaki Nishino, however, did have a lot to say about how AI in general is being embraced within PlayStation. Nishino said that development cycles — increasingly generation-spanning in the case of first-party PS5 games — can be sped up by AI, while “enabling more creators to enter the market.”
