Sakurai and AI

https://www.siliconera.com/masahiro-sakurai-discussed-generative-ai-in-game-development/

It is important to not take things out of context.

Large-scale is a key qualifier.

Cyberpunk 2077 is not sustainable.

Clair Obscur is.

PlayStation first-party games (*cough* Marathon *cough*) are not sustainable.

Fortnite is.

Hitting big, stupid numbers like 4k, 120fps that don't need to be hit is the issue. 

Immersion lost it's credibility when Minecraft became the biggest game in the world. Spending 100x the Minecraft budget to hit 10% of the audience is bad math. It is niche, and niche makes sense in the old days of PC "Can It Run Crysis" crowds. Even X, the space sim video game not the company run by the space stim guy, moved away from cutting edge into cell-shaded. 

The sustainability argument is pretty much the same argument we have about sustainable cars. There are two ways to make cars more sustainable. Change the fuel they are using or make them use less fuel. Sakurai is talking about people that want games to go 200 miles per hour, aka really fast, are going to need something other than the normal developer engine to make it possible. The current developer engine doesn't have the fuel to make it go that fast. This is a big reason Xbox is shifting their teams to middleware solutions like Unreal. 

However, there is also the choice of not going 200 miles per hour and just making games that make 60 miles per hour feel just as exciting. In car talk it means remove barriers while making the whole thing a lot smaller and more nimble. Impact the driver more directly and allow them to feel more of the dynamics of driving than just pure speed.

Gaming can do the same thing. Better environment feedback increases perception of player impact. Tighter and more responsive controls with reduced input lag. More dynamic presentation with contrast used as a mechanic and not just for pretty pictures. Immersion is involvement, not fidelity. Nobody is more immersed than 8 people around a Killer Queen cabinet. Nobody is more immersed then a person 40 hours into their Rim World settlement.

Sakurai included "large scale" for a reason. The problem isn't solving how to make larger games. The problem is that developers are making larger games that lack substance. Ubisoft needs AI to sustain Assassin's Creed, not Just Dance.You may argue that Just Dance lacks substance, but making a rhythm game that is only second in franchise sales to AC isn't a small feat. Just Dance has to immerse the player without the Hollywood budget and story board. It focuses on delivering a product that fans keep coming back to.

Ubisoft could do with more Just Dance approaches.The industry could do with more. Just Delve. Just Frag. Just Skate. Just Crash. Just Drive. Sakurai and Just Dance have shared a home on Nintendo for a long time for the same reason. They focus on delivering a product that does one thing and does it well. Those products don't need AI, and honestly the industry really doesn't need it either.