Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai thinks gen-AI will cause a surge of unoriginal games, but says human creativity can’t be replicated

Masahiro Sakurai predicts generative AI will drive a further rise in video game releases, many of them unoriginal and commercially unsuccessful. He argues that human creators with distinctive artistic visions will matter more as easily copied games become more common.

Steam saw 275 games published in 2010 and more than 19,000 this year, a figure Sakurai expects to grow. He says AI could reproduce simple puzzle concepts and perhaps even more complex games, but cannot invent a creator’s unique style; the article also notes a surge in Steam Next Fest demos and developers’ concerns about imitation.