Electronic Arts (EA) said during its latest investor presentation that generative AI is the "very core" of its business.
CEO Andrew Wilson talked about how the new technology is currently driving innovation with EA studios. He also claimed that more than half of the company's development processes could be "impacted" by generative AI.
Electronic Arts' AI Focus
He added that the technology is something that the publisher is "embracing deeply" moving forward. Wilson's remarks during the investor presentation came after Electronic Arts cut off 5% of its workforce.
The EA CEO doubled down on that narrative and said that AI wasn't simply a "buzzword" for the studio.
He added that the company currently has more than "100 novel AI projects" that are in development across three categories; efficiency, expansion, and transformation, according to GameDeveloper.
Wilson said that efficiency is not just about delivering "cost savings" but rather "doing what we do today faster, cheaper, and at a higher quality." He explained that this meant giving more iterations as well as testing and high-quality content for the community.
The EA CEO added that it also meant culturalizing content across geographies to let developers focus on finding more fun for more players worldwide. He argued that the lowering of these friction points will result in deeper gameplay experiences.
There weren't that many positive reactions to the video that EA showed off during the presentation. One of the main reasons for this is that it was pre-rendered footage of the technology in action, said GamePressure.
The studio seemingly does not have a fully functioning version of the technology to demonstrate to a wide audience.
Another talking point among people was that the generated level was made out of cardboard boxes. This was despite AI supposedly encouraging creativity.
Various New Features
The company wants to use generative AI to increase the range of character interactions in its games.
Wilson had previously used the example of FIFA 23 featuring 12 animation cycles that determined how players moved around the field. But in EA Sports FC 24, this number increased to 1,200 thanks to AI.
President of EA entertainment, technology, and central developer Laura Miele also talked about something known as The Sims Hub. These are the first AI features that will be coming to The Sims universe.
The studio will release a platform with "supercharged discovery tools" that make use of AI to let players find user-generated content much easier. Some of the features were also shown off during the investor presentation, according to IGN.
