Overview
- Former Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney calls the AAA sector structurally at its end, citing soaring costs, longer development cycles, and board-driven risk aversion.
- He says generative AI is already embedded across production from asset creation to testing and expects its impact to intensify.
- Mahoney warns that AI can create “a lot of slop” but argues players will continue to reject low-quality output in favor of strong craftsmanship.
- He criticizes executives who sell AI mainly as a massive cost-saver and urges using the tech to empower creativity rather than replace it.
- He highlights Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders, which he signed at Nexon, as an example of smaller teams leveraging AI to achieve outsized results.