Late 2025 was a hotbed of debate over the complexities of AI in video games. Baldur's Gate 3 studio Larian admitted to using AI, only to walk it back a month later, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was stripped of its wins at The Indie Game Awards for its use of generative AI, and multiple triple-A developers came out in support of the technology, despite potential audience backlash.
There were some developers who shunned AI completely, but it felt like a precursor to the much-maligned tech being widely adopted going forward.
Now, in a new national briefing, the CEO of Korean developer Shift Up, creator of Stellar Blade, has backed claims that say "Supporting AI in the gaming industry is a very important task" to combat the massive workforces at competing Chinese studios.
Stellar Blade Studio Shift Up Will Be Using AI So That One Developer Can Do The Job Of 100
Speaking at a national briefing titled "2026 Economic Growth Strategy — The First Year of Korea's Great Leap Forward", Shift Up CEO Kim Hyung-tae stressed the importance of leveraging AI in development to help combat China's vast workforces.
Former PlayStation President Thinks Stellar Blade Caused Korea's Development Boom
Stellar Blade could inspire up-and-coming Korean studios.
"80% of our company's sales come from overseas, and when we go overseas, the first thing we encounter is Chinese games," he said, reports GameMeca (and translated via Google). "We pour about 150 people into one game, but China uses 1,000 to 2,000 people. We lack the capacity to compete in terms of completeness or quantity of content."
The CEO feels that, while there are concerns, AI won't come at the expense of workers, and that there will be no layoffs; it will just allow smaller countries like South Korea to compete with behemoths such as China and the US in development.
"I don't believe people will lose their jobs even if AI becomes more widespread. Even if we mobilize all our human resources, it won't be enough," he said during the address. "Only when all these people are proficient in AI, so that one person can perform the role of 100 people, can we compete with industries like China and the US that rely on large-scale human resources."
Only when all these people are proficient in AI, so that one person can perform the role of 100 people, can we compete with industries like China and the US.
The national briefing was also attended by Korea's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Choi Hwi-young. The minister echoed Kim's sentiments, saying, "Supporting AI in the gaming industry is a very important task. Some large gaming companies have their own AI technology, and they are also developing programs to grow together with small and medium-sized gaming companies."
"Starting this year, we have a plan for new investments with the secured budget, and we plan to separately allocate a budget to support small and medium-sized gaming companies so that they can subscribe to AI," he pledged.
Stellar Blade
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81/100 Critics Rec: 81%
- Released
- April 26, 2024
- ESRB
- M for Mature
- Developer(s)
- Shift Up
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
