EA Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson said Wednesday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference that he believesGenerative AIIn the next five years, the company and the entireGaming IndustryHave a transformative impact.
Wilson said the technology advances allow companies to create richer, more personalized content faster. He said the increased efficiency combined with "deeper, more immersive experiences" will lead to significant player growth in the coming years and provide a "multi-billion dollar" growth opportunity.
Wilson gave an example, saying that in the past it might have taken six months to build an in-game stadium, but in the past 12 months,This time has been reduced to 6 weeks and may be reduced to 6 days in the next few years.
He also mentioned that FIFA 23 only had 12 cycles of player movement, while EA Sports FC 24 used generative AI to create 1,200 cycles.
Wilson hopes that over the next five years, generative AI will improve EA’s development efficiency by 30%, increase the number of players (currently 700 million) by “at least” 50%, and increase players’ in-game spending by 10-20%.
While some in the industry have expressed concerns about the potential job market impact of AI, Wilson claimed that developers within EA are embracing the technology and that the most effective way to use it is to augment developers, not replace them.