Xbox announces what sounds like a generative AI-focused game-making department, Xbox Labs, while avoiding mentioning AI

Xbox has launched Xbox Labs, a small initiative to explore new ways games can be made, adapted and experienced. The announcement points to recent game modifications and ports as inspiration, but does not say whether Labs will work on generative AI tools.

The team will bring together game makers, engineers and scientists, and is led by Xbox chief technology officer Scott Van Vliet. CEO Asha Sharma said Xbox players spend more than 72 billion hours a year playing, around five times the estimated global time spent writing code. The launch follows similar game-making platform announcements from Google and Unity, though Xbox has not explained whether its work will take a similar direction.