Science fiction and artificial intelligence often go hand-in-hand. For decades, modern creatives have utilized their preferred artistic mediums to warn of AI’s potential dangers or inevitable dystopian futures.
Not Dead Space creator and former Sledgehammer CEO Glen Schofield, though.
In a new interview with The Game Business, the former Call of Duty studio head said he is “100% behind AI” as a means to aid in video game development. “I am 100% behind AI, because I’ve been there for a lot of these [moments]. I was there for the beginning of the internet when they said everyone would have a website. And now everybody does. AI is here, just work with it.”
Schofield has worked in the games industry since the early 1990s, his roles ranging from art director and designer to executive producer and general manager. Though Call of Duty and Dead Space are his most well-known endeavors, Schofield directed 2022 sci-fi survival The Callisto Protocol.
“Everybody’s spouting out about AI. I am in the thick of things. The one thing that they always tout is that you can make great concept art and cinematics. Do you know the last thing the fans were telling us? Don’t make cinematics.”
“Someday, 10 years, five years, it’ll be here. But is it going to be an engine? Right now, it’s a whole bunch of things that just kind of suck it in… and into what? It’s going to have to settle down a bit before we actually use it.
“So, we got to continue to make games. I look for clever ideas to make games cheaper. But I’ll always be looking for tools. We’re always trying to make it cheaper, more efficient, faster and better.”
Schofield also revealed to The Game Business that he uses Midjourney. “Because I’m going in different directions, and then I’m taking it into Midjourney, and I wish I had ways I could just take things into Midjourney.”
Workplace AI implementation is divisive enough as it stands, but its place in creative and artistic fields is especially controversial. In a recent Game Developers Conference survey, more than half of video game developers (52%) said they utilize gen-AI in some capacity, while just over one-quarter (27%) say they don’t use it and don’t plan to start.
Unsurprisingly, executives and shareholders are more optimistic, their rose-colored perspective likely tinted by an AI-generated mirage showing endless year-on-year growth. Roughly 51% of companies in the industry have an AI usage policy, but that number skyrockets to 78% for AAA studios. Some respondents, however, say the tech has potential uses — 32% say AI has a place in code and production, and 11% in art and animation, but only 3% feel AI belongs in narrative design.
Em-dashes aren’t the only thing AI generates; the tech also begets career concerns. Despite its prevalence, one-third of responding devs (33%) want to use AI as little as possible. Overall, the data shows collective opinions regarding generative AI have deteriorated over the past year. Just 13% believe gen-AI will bring positive changes, down from 21% in 2024. Going one step further, nearly one-third (30%) say AI-related changes will be negative — up from 18% last year.
“The creative profession is right in the cross hairs of this discussion,” Schofield tells The Game Business, comparing industry apprehension to mo-cap concerns and anti-Adobe Photoshop sentiment from years ago. “I remember when Photoshop was coming out. Now anybody who did airbrush or anything like that, they were out of work, right? Because computers are going to make it faster. I know how to undo. I now could add airbrush techniques within seconds and all that… but everything just got more complicated.”
“I remember when motion capture was going to take jobs away. I look at animation departments now, it could be 30 people. It always raises the bar. It’s raising it now for me when I’m coming up with ideas and worlds.
“I wish I could predict what jobs [will come out of it]. I hear people going we’re going to want prompt engineers. And we probably will.”
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A lifelong gamer raised on classic titles like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Croc, Stephanie brings her expertise of gaming and pop culture to deliver unique, refreshing views on the world of video games, complete with references to absurd and obscure media.
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