EA CEO called generative AI a ‘billion dollar opportunity’ in gaming

EA CEO called generative AI a ‘billion dollar opportunity’ in gaming

EA CEO Andrew Wilson believes generative AI could offer ‘deeper, more immersive experiences’ within the company and the wider industry in the next five years.


In a speech at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on Wednesday, March 6, Mr Wilson touched on the potential impact of generative AI in game development. The EA boss highlighted that advancements in such technology are allowing his company to create personalized content faster and more efficiently.


As a result, this rapid development paired with “deeper, more immersive experiences” will, according to the CEO, lead to significant audience expansion in the next five years, reports Techraptor.


Generative AI in gaming


At EA, Mr Wilson said that the teams are embracing the growth of generative AI, in an industry where many fear their jobs will be replaced with AI.


“Part of the process is how do we get our people to embrace [generative AI] and for creators of games, this is incredibly exciting,” he continued. “The ability to get to the fun faster and get to market faster is the Holy Grail for them.”


The gaming CEO used the example of building an in-game sports stadium to illustrate the point. Something that used to take six months now can be achieved in just six weeks. Down the line, this could even be reduced to six days. 


Looking at specific games, FIFA23 has 12 run cycles for how players can move. Already, EA Sports FC 24 has 1,200 options, created by generative AI.


“What we’ve seen every time there’s been a meaningful technological advancement in media and in technology, where you can democratize an industry and hand it over to the population at large, incredible things happen,” Mr Wilson said.


“Once you give that to the world where you have three billion players around the world creating personal content and expanding and enhancing the universes that we create, and building and creating their own universe on our technology platform, all of a sudden we are the beneficiaries of platform economics.


“For me, that’s a multi-billion dollar opportunity for us in addition to what we would otherwise get from our regular growth.”


Featured image: EA