Gen AI isn’t coming for new Mario and Zelda games, Nintendo assures

Nintendo has weighed-in on the use of generative AI in gaming after several studios signalled at least an openness to using the controversial tech in game development.

For a company that has wowed gamers for generations with the crowd-pleasing wit and playability, Nintendo wouldn’t be an obvious candidate to fall back on the crutch of world’s, in part, being generated by artificial intelligence tools.

With the Switch 2 launch thought to be less than a year away, Nintendo has reaffirmed what we all already know – it doesn’t need AI to create engaging gaming experiences.

“In the game industry, AI-like technology has long been used to control enemy character movements, so game development and AI technology have always been closely related,” Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said in a recent Q&A with shareholders translated and reported by TweakTown.

“Generative AI, which has been a hot topic in recent years, can be more creative, but we also recognise that it has issues with intellectual property rights. We have decades of know-how in creating optimal gaming experiences for our customers, and while we remain flexible in responding to technological developments, we hope to continue to deliver value that is unique to us and cannot be achieved through technology alone.”

The perceived pushback comes as Nintendo’s rivals have been somewhat less committal about the future of Gen AI in gaming. Ubisoft, for example, is on record as saying games could feel “more alive and richer” as a result of AI development, while Sony’s CEO believes AI can “support creativity” but cannot replace human creativity.

At the beginning of this year, Valve revealed that 31% of developers are already using AI in the workplace, according to a survery it carried out among 3,000 devs.