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Nintendo claims genAI affects intellectual property rights. Image: Shutterstock
Nintendo has become the largest publisher to refrain from using generative artificial intelligence (genAI) technology in its games.
As video game publishers accelerate their adoption of genAI for design, development, and storytelling, Japanese industry giant Nintendo appears to have taken a strong stance against using the technology as a substitute for human creativity.
Asked about genAI during a recent investor Q&A, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa raised intellectual property concerns, before stressing that the technology is not a silver bullet for creatives in the industry.
“In the gaming industry, AI-like technology has been integrated into enemy character movements for some time,” Furukawa said.
“We believe that game development and AI technology have had a close relationship since the beginning. It has become a hot topic…
“While generative AI can be more creative, it also raises issues such as intellectual property rights.”
Furukawa stressed that for decades, Nintendo has had the know-how to “create the perfect gaming experience” for its customers, referring to the Early start with home game in the 1970s.
While Furukawa assured investors that the company was ready to “respond flexibly” to new technologies, he stressed that it could not “simply create new things through technology alone.”
Nintendo’s apparent decision to forgo genAI in its first-party games, while a distinct approach, isn’t surprising.
The company has a reputation for being extremely litigious when it comes to copyright and its intellectual property: it has issued cease-and-desist orders to fan projects, issued copyright strikes against content creators for sharing gameplay footage, and, in one case, forced a hacker to pay the company 25 to 30 percent of his lifetime income.
Generative AI poses unique copyright challenges, with countless artists and companies in the gaming, literary, film, and music industries objecting to the technology’s obscure use of intellectual property to train its models and produce content.
Earlier this year, Nintendo found itself embroiled in an AI copyright controversy with the release of Palworld — a third-party indie game that was widely suspected of using generative AI to make weird lookalikes characters from Nintendo’s popular Pokémon franchise.
After Palworld went viral and sold millions of copies worldwide, Nintendo said it would “investigate and take appropriate action to combat any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.”
How do game developers use AI?
Nintendo hasn’t explicitly closed the door on future adoptions of genAI, but its current stance stands in stark contrast to an industry eager to use the technology to cut costs and create new development opportunities.
Big three rival gaming companies Xbox and PlayStation both have AI initiatives underway, with Microsoft aiming to develop Xbox game development tools for genAI characters and scenarios and Sony planned to have genAI integrated directly into its next generation of consoles.
Meanwhile, game publisher Ubisoft has already revealed non-player character technology which adopts genAI to establish character personality and influence player interactions.
Additionally, EA gaming company CEO Andrew Wilson says that more than 50% of the company’s development processes will be impacted by AItelling investors that the technology has the potential to change the game “in the same way YouTube did for traditional film and television.”
As genAI is expected to reduce development time and expense, Nintendo investors have criticized the company for its particularly long release cycles, referencing the last Mario game which marked the franchise’s first 2-D entry in 11 years.
In response, Furukawa said it was “inevitable that development will become longer, more complex and more sophisticated,” before assuring investors that Nintendo is “making the necessary investments to respond to these changes.”
It’s worth noting that Nintendo’s next console is expected to use a custom chip from Nvidia, the graphics card maker that recently (and momentarily) became the most valuable company in the world due to its role in powering artificial intelligence.