How AI will change gaming forever

The robots are coming! AI has burst onto the scene in a big way in almost every industry now. And video games aren’t any different. Advances in gaming tech move seriously fast, and it won’t be long before AI becomes a key part of how our favourite titles look and play.

In fact, some companies have already started dipping their toe into the AI waters to see what’s possible. While others are worried about how it might eventually take jobs away from actual developers.

So, we’re here for a sneak peek at the future of all things gaming AI. And we’ve done plenty of digging to find out just how much of a game changer it could be in the next few years…

AI generated quests

You’ve found every single secret. Explored the entire map. Completed every side mission. And hoovered up all that legendary loot. Now what?

If you’re anything like us, when you find a game you really click with, you never want it to end. And with AI, it might not have to. With a computer pulling the strings behind the scenes – kind of like an old-school dungeon master from a tabletop RPG – it’ll be able to create a potentially endless supply of new quests for you to get stuck into. How’s that for replay value?

We’re talking completely unique stories that don’t repeat themselves. With cool, exciting missions, that respond on the fly to your choices. There’ll be none of those boring, outdated fetch quests here. We’ve had enough of those for a lifetime by now…

The only issue is, with limitless objectives, you probably won’t be able to ever hit that 100% completion stat. So, if trophies and achievements are part of your gaming goals, this one won’t sound that appealing!

Worlds built by AI

For open world titles, AI is going to be a huge tool. Take something like Skyrim, but imagine a map with infinite cities, landmarks, people, weapons, enemies, and opportunities around every corner. All of it generated by AI, but with its own special history and backstory.

And these worlds won’t just be pretty to look at. They’ll be getting even more in-depth and lifelike going forward. Fully realistic ecosystems and environments are in the works that mirror ones in the real world – right down to the tiniest details. Let’s take a desert for example. It’ll be so in-depth, that it’ll have a proper weather pattern (sandstorms anyone?), with plants that grow and die, and animals you’ll hunt, who hunt you in return. Sounds wild.

There won’t be any annoying invisible barriers boxing you in either. So, you’ll be able to head out in any direction and explore a virtual world that doesn’t have an end in sight. Where there’ll always be something new and cool to see or do. Games are already pretty big, but it looks like they’re about to get even bigger.

Dynamic difficulty levels

We’ve all got stuck on a boss fight at one point. Those ones that make you want to launch your controller across the room. Dark Souls, we’re looking at you.

But AI might be able to help you out – literally in this case. Easy, medium, and hard difficulty settings will be a thing of the past. Instead of picking one from the start screen before pressing play on your adventure, AI will monitor how you get on from the off.

It’ll watch how you play and tweak the experience in real time to suit you. If you’re struggling against a certain enemy, the AI could make your weapon dish out more damage. Or lower the hit points of your opponent so they’re easier to defeat. But on the other hand, if you’re carving through monsters like there’s no tomorrow, it’ll bump up their abilities so it’s way tougher for you.

There are even rumours that some futuristic AI enemies will learn from how you fight. So, unless you mix up your playstyle, they’re going to work out your weak spot very, very quickly. And you’ll be seeing that game over screen an awful lot.

All of this is going to make sure the game is still fun and challenging for casual gamers and the hardcore ones. We reckon it’ll definitely keep the number of rage quits to a minimum too!

An end to online cheats

From Fortnite to FIFA, almost every kind of competitive multiplayer game has its fair share of cheaters. They use special hacks that exploit the game and stack the odds in their favour. Whether that’s an aim bot – where every shot hits the target 100% of the time – or a buff that boosts all their skills to the highest levels.

AI is going to be the perfect way for devs to fight back though. And it’ll help to bring some fair play to the online battlefield. With an AI that can adapt on the fly, it’ll be able to spot and immediately close any loopholes as soon as they show up. Because it’ll learn from them too, it’ll get more and more savvy about the latest tricks – predicting (and stopping) any kind of foul play before it gets off the ground.

Plus, it’ll be able to keep an eye out 24/7. Meaning rulebreakers can be banned around the clock, and developers can focus on tackling the more creative stuff.

So, if those pesky cheats want to nail that top spot on the leaderboard next time round, they’ll actually have to be at the top of their game.

Real life conversations

Voice-controlled AI assistants are everywhere by now. We all know about Siri in our iPhones and Alexa perched on the kitchen worktop. But what if that tech found it’s way to video games?

Instead of picking a pre-written response from a list of dialogue options, you’ll actually speak into your headset and have a proper conversation with the characters around you. Just like in real life.

So, when that guard draws a gun on you, you’ll need to get them to chill out with some carefully chosen words. Or if you spot a bit of armour you like the look of in a merchant’s shop, have to try and haggle to knock the price down. Get it right, and you’ll be the talk of the town…

AI controlled NPCs

How many times have you spoken to an NPC (non-playable character) and they’ve just repeated the same line for the billionth time? Personally, we’ve lost count.

Luckily, companies like Nvidia are working on NPCs controlled fully by AI. One’s that’ll have their own personalities, who won’t churn out a handful of identical soundbites. And who will offer unique interactions and conversations that’ll change based on your character’s skills, traits, and decisions. Nvidia say they’ll “display emotional awareness and engage in organic interactions” – so, nothing will be pre-programmed.

The NPCs won’t just react with you either though. They’ll respond to each other in much more realistic ways. They might form relationships, strike out and explore on their own, or have a scrap with their neighbours. So, they’ll all be off doing their thing while you’re on a quest on the other side of the map. The world won’t just stop just because you’re not nearby.

Eventually, it’ll get to the point where our AI co-op partners have more than just a mind of their own too. Where we won’t be able to tell them apart from actual human players. In theory though, that should make them smarter and more useful in battle. And you won’t have to deal with them getting stuck in the environment like back in the day…

Jobs

For all the good AI will do for the industry, it could also have a downside. It’s pretty rough out there at the moment – with studios and publishers cutting costs and making loads of talented developers redundant this year. And using AI take on a bulk of the work (to keep expenses down further) could add to the problem. Leading to some devs eventually being replaced completely by the bots.

AI soundtracks and artwork have already caused a lot of discussion. A few studios say it’s cheaper for them to create, but real artists and creatives argue that paying work’s been taken away from them. Plus, the quality of the AI music and graphic design isn’t quite up to scratch yet. With less character, and a way more generic sound, look and feel. But it probably won’t be long until we can’t tell the difference between work made by AI or a human. Watch this space.

On the flip side though, if it’s used properly, AI will take a lot of the busywork and admin-heavy tasks off the devs’ hands. Freeing them up to develop gameplay we haven’t seen before, crazy new worlds to explore and stories that we’ll all be talking about years from now. The tech is super exciting too, and we’re really looking forward to seeing what gaming’s brightest and best can do with it.