The full report will be officially released in December. Earlier this month, the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) of Japan published preliminary summaries of its recent core survey on the state of game development. One statistic stood out particularly: 85.8% of Japanese game developers are actively using generative AI in their work.
These data come from a survey of game professionals conducted during the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference (CEDEC) in Japan, showing a significant increase from last year's results—last year's report indicated only 51% of developers used this technology. AI applications range from generating game assets to handling daily administrative tasks using tools like ChatGPT and Copilot. (In recent weeks, a presentation released by Level-5, the developer behind the Dark Cloud and Professor Layton series, was suspected by players of heavily using AI-generated images, sparking intense controversy over Japanese studios using AI to generate development resources.) Among developers using AI tools, 63% reported using them daily, 22.8% used them occasionally, and another 8.6% said their companies had issued relevant technical usage guidelines. A total of 1,349 developers participated in this survey.
The survey shows that most developers find AI technology helpful. Many stated that AI shortened development cycles and reduced production costs, with 837 people believing AI expanded creative boundaries and 738 thinking it lowered technical barriers. However, only 147 people indicated that this technology tangibly improved the final player experience.
This survey has certain limitations. By sampling individual developers, it means multiple developers from the same company following unified policies are counted separately, failing to reflect each company's overall AI usage. In CESA's survey of member companies, 74% stated they had established generative AI usage policies. The number of companies not using generative AI (27) was roughly equal to those applying the technology in some form (26). Only 12 companies used AI for visual asset creation, with even fewer employing it for narrative writing, localization, quality testing, or programming.
The adoption rate of generative AI in Japan's gaming industry continues to rise, but more notably, companies are gradually implementing clear policies to regulate how AI is used and deployed. Many of these policies have been introduced in response to mixed player feedback and online concerns. Although East Asian countries like South Korea and Japan show higher acceptance of such technologies, global controversies sparked by games like Crazy Taxi: World Tour suggest that game companies need to be more cautious than other industries when implementing AI—many other sectors are eager to leverage AI to boost productivity and cut labor costs.