Category: News

AI Tools Aren’t Solving Your Problems. They’re Just Adding More

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, News

The AI gold rush in game development is accelerating. New tools are appearing daily, each promising faster production, cheaper pipelines, and smarter workflows. On the surface, it looks like a revolution. In practice, it’s something else entirely. According to Keywords Studios’ Head of Transformation, after testing over 500 AI tools, only a handful were actually useful in real production environments . That’s not a minor gap. That’s a structural failure between what AI is promising and what development actually needs...

Developers Are Going Quiet. That Should Worry You

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, News

Lucas Pope, the developer behind Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn, recently revealed he isn’t sharing details about his next game. Not because of marketing strategy or timing, but because of AI. The concern is simple: if ideas are exposed too early, they can be absorbed, replicated, and redistributed before the original work even ships. That changes something fundamental about how games are made. Not technically, but culturally. It reshapes the very essence of game development, influencing not just the design processes and methodologies, but also the way diverse communities interact and engage with gaming...

AI Won’t Free Your Developers. It Will Standardise Them.

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, News

Nexon’s recent announcement around its “Mono Lake” AI initiative frames a familiar promise: less time writing code, more time innovating. The idea is that by leveraging decades of player data and billions of gameplay sessions, developers can make better decisions, faster. On paper, this sounds like a breakthrough...

Screen Australia’s $1.4M Investment Is Exactly What the Australian Games Industry Needs

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, News

Screen Australia has invested $1.4 million into 26 local game projects, supporting titles built around Australian stories, ideas, and creative voices. On the surface, this looks like a standard funding announcement. In reality, it’s a strong signal that the Australian games industry is moving in the right direction...

DLSS 5, Ultrarealism, and the Death of Art Direction

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, News

Nvidia’s reveal of DLSS 5 was positioned as a breakthrough in visual fidelity, promising photoreal lighting, materials, and AI-enhanced rendering that pushes games closer to reality than ever before. On paper, it’s an impressive technical achievement. In practice, the reaction from players tells a very different story. With the reveal trailer sitting at roughly 16% positive engagement, the message is clear: players are not rejecting the technology because they don’t understand it, they’re rejecting what it represents...

AI Asset Factories and the Problem with AI-Generated Games

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, Game Design, News

A Vienna-based startup called Atlas has launched AI Studio, a platform designed to automate large portions of game asset production using coordinated AI agents. The system allows developers to describe production tasks in natural language while a network of AI tools generates models, textures, materials, collision data, and level-of-detail variants before exporting the assets directly into engines such as Unity, Unreal Engine, or Blender...

Australia’s Game Development Education Sector Is Expanding – What It Means for Future Developers

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, Game Design, News

Australia’s game development education sector has grown rapidly over the past six years, reflecting the broader expansion of the country’s interactive entertainment industry. According to recent data, the Australian games sector generated $284.4 million in revenue and added 770 new jobs in 2022, bringing the workforce to more than 2,100 full-time professionals...

Queensland Government Invests $3.7M in Digital Games

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, Game Design, News

The Queensland Government has announced a $3.7 million investment to support 20 new digital game development projects, signalling what it describes as a record-breaking moment for the state’s growing games industry. The funding is expected to generate $23 million in economic contribution and support more than 330 local jobs, further cementing Queensland’s position as Australia’s second largest state for game development...

Unity AI Promises Full Games from Text Prompts – Revolution or Risk?

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, Game Design, News

Unity has announced a major expansion of its AI tooling, claiming that its upgraded Unity AI will allow developers to generate full casual games using only natural language prompts. The beta is set to debut at GDC in March, positioning Unity squarely in the rapidly escalating AI arms race in game development. The headline claim is bold: describe a game in words, and Unity generates a playable prototype - no coding required. That’s not just a feature update. That’s a philosophical shift...

Riot Reduces 2XKO Team Size, Commits to Long-Term Competitive Support

Posted on by Myles Blasonato in Blog, Game Design, News

When Riot speaks about restructuring, the fighting game community listens closely. This week, 2XKO Executive Producer Tom Cannon shared a difficult update: the 2XKO team is being reduced in size. The reason is clear and measured. While the game has built a passionate core audience, overall engagement hasn’t reached the level required to sustain a large development team long term...