AI Replaces Tasks Not Roles
Playtika cut 500 people in January. The announcement cited AI directly.
That's the clearest version of this conversation we've seen from a major studio yet.
Production cost projections for AI-assisted game development sit at 44% reduction by 2026. That number is coming from studios running actual pilots, not from the hype cycle.
Here's what I've seen in practice. The tasks AI is best at are the ones that filled junior roles. Asset variations. Localisation passes. Level layout iterations. Narrative draft generation. These used to take a person a week. Now they take a person a morning.
The expensive decisions didn't get cheaper. What mechanic actually makes the game fun? What does the player want six months from now? When do you cut a feature that isn't working? Those still need someone who understands players, not just process.
Studios treating this as a headcount reduction exercise will cut their way into a product problem. Studios treating it as a capacity expansion will build more with the same team.
Playtika chose one path.
Where are you seeing AI actually replace a task in your production pipeline?
Sources:
- Playtika Q1 2025 earnings release, Reuters
- AI production cost projection, Newzoo / GamesIndustry.biz
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