Choose your own adventure?
Imagination Suped Up
Imagine a system that allows users to create a video game entirely from scratch, without any coding, giving them the ability to change anything from the setting to the characters’ appearances to the gameplay mechanics.
Video game giant EA is envisioning that kind of future in a concept video about its yet-to-be-released, AI-powered “Imagination to Creation” program, unveiled Monday at the company’s Investor Day event in New York City.
In the concept video, two gamers off-screen create a Minecraft-esque video game involving a maze of cardboard boxes. Through a series of quick prompts, the users make the maze more complex while adding rules such as that characters can only die if they are hit with a grenade.
The changes show up pretty much instantaneously, and with zero technical ability required, and allow the game to be played immediately.
Of course, it’s just a concept video, so it remains to be seen how well it would work this well in a real setting with actual gamers.
And the big question is how such a future might impact the whole ecosystem of engineers and artists who make the current crop of video games — careers that have already been beset by brutal layoffs.
“Make it more epic.”
⁰EA Chief Strategy officer Mihir Vaidya demonstrates how EA plans to super-charge user-created game content with AI in this concept video “Imagination to Creation” from EA’s Investor Day event in NYC today. pic.twitter.com/sgBnawF7rK
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) September 17, 2024
Blacklash
When EA posted the concept video on X-formerly-Twitter, a backlash ensued. Many critics were concept artists and video game designers, all of whom could be made obsolete if a system like this actually hits the market.
They also pointed to the demo video’s striking drabness, which seemed to stand in contrast to the infinite variety of experiences the concept promises.
“Wait, so this is a concept video, meaning it’s not real, and they could have demoed whatever grand, epic idea they wanted, and they chose a maze of cardboard boxes?” asked Reid Southen, a concept artist and illustrator. “They’re calling it ‘Imagination to Creation’ but I see less than zero imagination here. Embarrassing really.”
“Imagination to creation is called talent,” another X user quipped.
But another basically summed up what EA is trying to do: “This sounds awesome. The future of gaming is personalized experiences.”
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