AI in gaming is nothing new
But is gaming resistant to outside innovation?
Have games been better at exporting innovation than ingesting it?
Gaming gets little recognition for its innovation, but is stubborn about innovation from the outside.
I've spent over a decade working with non-endemic companies in understanding how massive, dynamic, and brand-safe gaming is. While few doubt the mainstream-ness of games now, it's still not uncommon for folks to be surprised by the space and its impact on the farthest reaches of tech or their core businesses. Just this past weekend someone (who plays several mobile games) said to me, "Huh, yeah, games does seem to be a big industry now, right?"
But the industry's history of pushing the envelope in tech is long, and its savvy early adopter audience under-recognized as the guineapigs of seismic shifts.
Take, for instance, the buzzword (buzzterm? buzzinitialism?) of the moment: AI in gaming is nothing new.
In fact, the first documented artificial intelligence programs in history were for games in the 1950s: a chess game and a checkers game.
In gamer lingo, players have used the term AI for years when referring to NPCs, especially enemies, that respond dynamically to the player's actions.
All kinds of things we now find ubiquitous originated in or were made common in gaming:
- Digital goods:
The first microtransaction in games, depending on who you believe, was 2006 at the latest for a horse skin, 8 years before the first #NFT and the explosion of digital assets.
- 3D animation:
The first commercial 3D game was Battlezone in 1980, followed 15 years later by Toy Story, the first 3D animated feature film.
- Digital currencies:
Virtual currencies go back at least to Nexon’s MapleStory in 2003, where Bitcoin launched 6 years later.
But there are areas that fixate on gaming that maybe have yet to see their heyday in the space. #virtualreality was the poster child of 3-4 GDCs in a row, but there has yet to be major adoption by developers or gamers. Despite the obvious parallels of digital currency : crypto and digital assets : NFTs, and the overall focus of web3 on gaming as its consumer savior, many players still regard it wearily. eSports was essentially traditional sports leagues and events wedged into an industry that didn't necessarily need it.
I'm not saying any of these won't be successful or don't have their place, just that they're taking time. One thing each of these does have in common, though: they didn't originate in games.
What can we learn from what Netflix will do with games? How could financialization improve the way some players experience game economies? What's moving the needle in education, training, or therapy that could positively impact gaming?
As gaming eyes its next big thing, whether some home-grown AI or on-chain economies, it's exciting to think that the way I'll be playing in a year could be informed by something that didn't come out of the usual dark recesses of a Gamescom back booth, and I hope we're all open to it.