内容来源：https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/848368/gen-ai-video-games-2025

内容总结：

2025年，生成式人工智能在游戏行业掀起应用浪潮，同时也成为行业争议的焦点。一方面，育碧、EA、微软等头部厂商纷纷将AI技术应用于角色对话、图像生成及玩法设计，并宣称其能“赋能开发、降低成本”；另一方面，玩家与从业者对其应用效果及伦理影响质疑声不断。

本年度多款热门作品均出现AI生成内容：《ARC Raiders》使用AI生成角色对话，《使命召唤：黑色行动7》采用AI生成图像，年度游戏《克莱尔·奥布斯库尔：远征33》也曾短暂使用AI素材。然而，AI技术的实际表现尚未达到预期：生成图像质量参差不齐，AI角色对话生硬不自然，甚至被玩家利用来破坏游戏体验。部分作品因使用AI遭到媒体批评，玩家社区也普遍对游戏中出现AI内容表示反感。

面对争议，大型厂商仍坚持推进AI布局。拉瑞安工作室CEO斯温·温克坦言：“这是技术驱动的行业，你必须尝试，否则可能被淘汰。”Nexon CEO李正勋更直言“现在每家游戏公司都在用AI”。行业分析指出，资本对AI赛道的高度关注是驱动厂商拥抱该技术的重要原因——即便AI对成品质量提升有限，相关宣传仍有助于吸引投资。

与此形成鲜明对比的是，独立游戏开发者普遍抵制AI技术。许多独立工作室在游戏中标注“纯人工制作”标识，强调创作过程中人的价值。他们指出，AI不仅涉及未经许可使用训练数据的伦理问题，其高能耗的数据中心也对环境造成负担。对独立开发者而言，解决开发难题的创造性过程正是游戏创作的魅力所在，而AI试图“自动化”的恰恰是这一核心。

目前，生成式AI在游戏领域的应用仍处于探索阶段，其长期价值有待技术突破与市场检验。但可以确定的是，在资本推力与创作理念的碰撞中，AI将继续牵引游戏行业的变革与争论。

中文翻译：

2025年，生成式人工智能在游戏行业崭露头角。这一年最热门的游戏中已可见其应用痕迹，多家大型游戏工作室的CEO声称该技术正全面渗透行业，甚至已融入自家开发流程。与此同时，基层开发者——尤其是独立游戏领域——正奋力抵抗这股浪潮，通过标注"无AI生成"等方式划清界限。

2025年，AI成为玩家与开发者争议的焦点
生成式AI已现身于年度重磅作品中，包括年度最佳游戏。
这项技术正取代NFT成为发行商追逐的新风口。支持者宣称AI将极大促进游戏开发的民主化进程——其整合图像、文本、音频与视频的能力可缩短开发周期、压缩预算，恰好缓解当前行业两大痛点。为此，众多游戏工作室已宣布与生成式AI公司建立合作。

育碧开发出可生成简短对话片段（即"背景对话"）的技术，并推出支持玩家对话的AI驱动NPC；艺电与Stability AI达成合作；微软正运用AI分析与生成游戏内容。在官方合作之外，Nexon、Krafton、史克威尔艾尼克斯等大厂也高调拥抱生成式AI。

由此，生成式AI开始大规模进驻游戏作品。此前该技术多局限于边缘场景——或是试验性原型，或是每年淹没在Steam上万款游戏中的低质量小品。而今它已悄然潜入年度大作：《ARC Raiders》这款年度黑马多人射击游戏采用AI生成角色对话；《使命召唤：黑色行动7》使用了AI生成图像；甚至2025年TGA年度游戏《克莱尔·奥伯斯卡尔：远征33》也曾短暂出现过AI生成素材。

玩家与开发者对此反应各异。总体而言，玩家似乎反感游戏中出现AI生成内容。当《纪元117：罗马和平》的AI素材被发现时，开发商育碧辩称其"意外漏过审核"并予以替换；而《黑色行动7》的AI素材曝光后，动视虽承认问题却保留未改。业界评价亦呈两极分化：《ARC Raiders》因使用AI遭评测者扣分，但《克莱尔·奥伯斯卡尔》几乎获得满堂彩，其短暂使用AI素材之事鲜少被提及。

开发者显然察觉公众对AI的抵触，却不愿承诺弃用该技术。动视在《黑色行动7》争议后称AI旨在"赋能"而非取代开发者；被问及《战地6》会否采用AI时，艺电副总裁丽贝卡·库塔兹承认技术具有诱惑力，但保证成品不会出现AI内容；《博德之门3》开发商拉瑞安工作室CEO斯温·温克透露，新作《神界》仅将AI用于概念构思，成品所有内容皆由人类完成。他亦暗示了开发者顶风使用AI的深层动机：

"这是技术驱动的行业，必须不断尝试。"他在接受彭博社采访时坦言，"若因拒绝尝试而错过他人发现的金蛋，你将无路可走。"

其他高管的言论佐证了这一观点。Nexon CEO李正勋直言："现在应该默认所有游戏公司都在使用AI。"

问题在于，生成式AI远非支持者鼓吹的"金蛋"。游戏服务公司Keywords Studios去年发布报告显示，仅靠AI工具开发2D游戏虽能简化部分流程，但终无法替代人类创造力。《使命召唤》与《罗马和平》的AI素材能被识破，恰恰因其质量低劣；育碧的交互式AI NPC对话生硬不自然；2025年中国武侠MMO《燕云十六声》中，玩家甚至通过操纵AI聊天机器人NPC破坏游戏平衡，重现了《堡垒之夜》玩家诱使AI版达斯·维德爆粗的场面。

尽管前景被大肆宣扬，生成式AI的现有成果难孚众望。为何它仍无处不在？

除温克提及的竞争压力外，最直白的原因在于经济驱动力。尽管面临通胀、消费疲软与失业率攀升，涌入AI领域的千亿资金仍支撑股市繁荣。寻求资本维持运营的游戏厂商自然趋之若鹜——宣布AI计划、鼓吹AI工具（即便对成品影响甚微），正是向热衷AI的投资者证明自身价值的捷径。

这解释了为何AI支持者多来自3A厂商管理层，而普遍抵制该技术的独立开发者鲜少附和。独立工作室面临同等经济压力，却缺乏应对资源。理论上他们本应最受益于AI技术，现实中却成为最坚定的反对者。他们通过标注反AI标识、声明作品纯手工制作，来驳斥"AI已无处不在"的论调。

对部分独立开发者而言，使用AI完全违背游戏创作初衷。解决开发难题的思考过程——这本该是AI自动化的环节——正是游戏制作魅力的核心所在。此外，独立开发者对道德与环境问题尤为敏感：AI生成内容常未经许可挪用现有作品，数据中心的高耗能与污染问题也日益凸显，且多集中于低收入与少数族裔社区。

鉴于其未实现的承诺与粗糙的产出，人们很容易将生成式AI视为游戏界继NFT之后的下一个泡沫。但随着行业巨头不断推进AI应用，这项技术仍将是游戏开发的争议焦点——直至其真正完善，或如NFT般泡沫破裂。

英文来源：

2025 was the year generative AI made its presence felt in the video game industry. Its use has been discovered in some of the most popular games of the year, and CEOs from some of the largest game studios claim it’s being implemented everywhere in the industry including in their own development processes. Meanwhile, rank-and-file developers, especially in the indie games space, are pushing back against its encroachment, coming up with ways to signal their games are gen-AI free.
In 2025, AI became a lightning rod for gamers and developers
Gen-AI showed up in the year’s biggest releases including game of the year.
Gen-AI showed up in the year’s biggest releases including game of the year.
Generative AI has largely replaced NFTs as the buzzy trend publishers are chasing. Its proponents claim that the technology will be a great democratization force in video game development, as gen AI’s ability to amalgamate images, text, audio, and video could shorten development times and shrink budgets — ameliorating two major problems plaguing the industry right now. In service to that idea, numerous video game studios have announced partnerships with gen-AI companies.
Ubisoft has technology that can generate short snippets of dialogue called barks and has gen-AI powered NPCs that players can have conversations with. EA has partnered with Stability AI, Microsoft is using AI to analyze and generate gameplay. Outside of official partnerships, major game companies like Nexon, Krafton, and Square Enix are vocally embracing gen AI.
As a result, gen AI is starting to show up in games in a big way. Up until this point, gen AI in gaming had been mostly relegated to fringe cases — either prototypes or small, low-quality games that generally get lost in the tens of thousands of titles released on Steam each year. But now, gen AI is cropping up in the year’s biggest releases. ARC Raiders, one of the breakout multiplayer shooter hits of the year, used gen AI for character dialogue. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 used gen-AI images. Even 2025’s TGA Game of the Year, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, featured gen-AI images before they were quietly removed.
Reaction to this encroachment from both players and developers has been mixed. It seems like generally, players don’t like gen AI showing up in games. When gen-AI assets were discovered in Anno 117: Pax Romana, the game’s developer Ubisoft claimed the assets “slipped through” review and they were subsequently replaced. When gen-AI assets were found in Black Ops 7, however, Activision acknowledged the issue, but kept the images in the game. Critical response has also been lopsided. ARC Raiders was awarded low scores with reviewers specifically citing the use of gen AI as the reason. Clair Obscur, though, was nigh universally praised and its use of gen AI, however temporary, has barely been mentioned.
It seems like developers are sensitive to the public’s distaste for gen AI but are unwilling to commit to not using it. After gen-AI assets were discovered in Black Ops 7, Activision said it uses the tech to “empower” its developers, not replace them. When asked about gen AI showing up in Battlefield 6, EA VP Rebecka Coutaz called the technology seductive but affirmed it wouldn’t appear in the final product. Swen Vincke, CEO of Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian, said gen AI is being used for the studio’s next game Divinity but only for generating concepts and ideas. Everything in the finished game, he claimed, would be made by humans. He also hinted at why game makers insist on using the tech despite the backlash developers usually receive whenever it’s found.
“This is a tech-driven industry, so you try stuff,” he told Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier in an interview. “You can’t afford not to try things because if somebody finds the golden egg and you’re not using it, you’re dead.”
Comments from other CEOs reinforce Vincke’s point. Junghun Lee, the CEO of ARC Raiders’ parent company Nexon, said in an interview that, “It’s important to assume that every game company is now using AI.”
The problem is, though, gen AI doesn’t yet seem to be the golden egg its supporters want people to believe it is. Last year, Keywords Studios, a game development services company, published a report on creating a 2D video game using only gen-AI tools. The company claimed that gen-AI tools can streamline some development processes but ultimately cannot replace the work of human talent. Discovering gen AI in Call of Duty and Pax Romana was possible precisely because of the low-quality of the images that were found. With Ubisoft’s interactive gen-AI NPCs, the dialogue they spout sounds unnatural and stilted. Players in the 2025 Chinese martial arts MMORPG Where Winds Meet are manipulating its AI chatbot NPCs to break the game, just like Fortnite players were able to make AI-powered Darth Vader swear.
For all the promises of gen AI, its current results do not live up to expectations. So why is it everywhere?
One reason is the competitive edge AI might but currently can’t provide that Swen Vincke alluded to in his interview with Bloomberg. Another reason is also the simplest: it’s the economy, stupid. Despite inflation, flagging consumer confidence and spending, and rising unemployment, the stock market is still booming, propped up by the billions and billions of dollars being poured into AI tech. Game makers in search of capital to keep business and profits going want in on that. Announcing AI initiatives and touting the use of AI tools — even if those tools have a relatively minor impact on the final product — can be a way to signal to AI-eager investors that a game company is worth their money.
That might explain why the majority of gen-AI’s supporters in gaming come from the C-suite of AAA studios and not smaller indie outfits who almost universally revile the tech. Indies face the same economic pressure as bigger studios but have far fewer resources to navigate those pressures. Ostensibly, indie developers are the ones who stand to benefit the most from the tech but, so far, are its biggest opponents. They are pushing back against the assertion that gen AI is everywhere, being used by everybody, with some marking their games with anti-AI logos proclaiming their games were made wholly by humans.
For some indie developers, using gen AI defeats the purpose of game making entirely. The challenge of coming up with ideas and solutions to development problems — the things gen AI is supposed to automate — is a big part of game making’s appeal to them. There are also moral and environmental implications indie developers seem especially sensitive to. Gen-AI outputs are cobbled from existing bodies of work that were often used without consent or compensation. AI data centers are notorious for consumptive energy usage and polluting their surrounding areas, which are increasingly focused in low-income and minority communities.
With its unrealized promises and so-far shoddy outputs, it’s easy to think of gen AI as gaming’s next flash in the pan the way NFTs were. But with gaming’s biggest companies increasingly reporting their use, gen AI will remain a lightning rod in game development — until the tech improves, or, like with NFTs, the bubble pops.