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Japanese Game Studios Report Sharp Rise in Generative AI Use

A Tokyo Game Show preview shows developers rely on AI as an efficiency tool under human oversight, prompting questions about training data and copyright.

Overview

  • A CESA preview presented at Tokyo Game Show on Friday found 85.8% of surveyed Japanese game developers now use generative AI in their workflows.
  • Of those respondents, 63% said they use AI daily and 22.8% said they use it only occasionally, reflecting routine rather than experimental use.
  • Studios describe AI use focused on productivity tasks such as debugging, automated testing, coding assistance, prototyping, localization, and pipeline automation rather than directly shipping raw AI outputs.
  • Developers say human verification, correction, and restricted tool lists are standard practice, and the survey sampled major CESA members including Capcom, Sega, Square Enix, Konami, Koei Tecmo, Sony, and Level-5.
  • CESA will publish a full report in December that will detail methodology and use cases, and the industry now faces near-term choices on training-data provenance, copyright protections, creative authorship, and potential effects on costs, timelines, and player trust.