Generative AI (GenAI) and the new wave of AI tools that have begun to filter into the video game industry continue to be a controversial topic in games. The most recent spike in controversy comes from the reveal of NVIDIA's DLSS 5, which was an incredibly impressive reveal for some, but the cause of major backlash that already has some developers part of that initial reveal doing damage control.
While there are a lot of players concerned as to how much GenAI tools will continue to influence how video games look and are developed, Take-Two Interactive chief executive officer Strauss Zelnick once again offered a more measured response to GenAI.
In a new interview with The Game Business, Zelnick offered the same approach that he's been giving since 2023, that GenAI tech and tools are just that, tools, not the one-button-press solution to making big hits that some (like the investors who drove Take-Two, Nintendo, and Roblox's stock down for a day when Google's Project Genie was revealed) seem to think it is.
"The history of our industry is that we've always used technology to create great entertainment. So, an advance in technology that allows us to do things better and quicker is great for us," Zelnick said. "I was kind of stunned by the market's reaction, because its reaction was somehow seeing it as a threat to what we do, when it's quite obvious that creation tools are beneficial for our industry."
"I think the bear case for big entertainment companies is somehow that AI tools will mean everyone can create hits, but that doesn't stand to reason. These tools may help you create assets, but that won't help you create hits. There are loads of assets out there now. It doesn't matter if you push a button to create an asset, or it takes you six weeks, at the end of the day, you have an asset...you can create assets that might look like a big release, that might look like NBA 2K or EA Sports FC. But creating a hit of that magnitude is a completely different animal and does require human engagement and creativity."
Specifically regarding Google's Project Genie (which Google has even admitted isn't a tool it created for making games), when asked if he believed Project Genie or tools like it could allow an individual or smaller entity to make a game like Grand Theft Auto, he responded, "Not even the littlest bit."
"There's already plenty of technology out there that allow people to create video games, and as a result, thousands of video games are created every year, and yet the hits all cluster among the large entertainment companies, almost entirely, and now and then, an indie, which is generally speaking well-funded and pretty robust in and of itself."
"The notion that somehow new tools would allow an individual to push a button and generate a hit and bring it to millions of consumers around the world, it's a laughable notion. It's just never been the case with entertainment. Right now [in music] there are programs that allow you to put out a prompt and get a professionally recorded song spit back out at you. It sounds like a song, but I defy you to listen to it more than once. It's great to send as a greeting card to your partner on their birthday, but that's about it."
These comments are all consistent with what Strauss Zelnick has said before, that GenAI and AI tools on their own could not make games anywhere as good as or on the same scale as GTA. He's also previously made it clear that GenAI tools were not used in the creation of GTA VI.
While there are some high-ranking executives in the industry who seem excited about GenAI tools to such a degree that it seems like they believe their company's ability to make a game as big as GTA VI is just a push of a button away, Strauss Zelnick has been at this for a long time, and his comments serve as yet another reminder that nothing in creative industries works like that. You can't make a hit, or to use Zelnick's music example, anything with actual substance, out of nothing.
No matter what side of the GenAI aisle you land on, whether you think these tools have a place in creative endeavours or not, both sides should be able to agree on that. If you think differently, you're in the realm of "laughable" thinking.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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