The video game industry’s relationship with generative AI just got a new data point, and it’s a complicated one. Research firm Bain & Company released its annual report on the games business, and the headline finding is that players are, on the whole, getting more comfortable with AI showing up in the games they play.
The numbers break down like this: 14% of respondents said they’d become significantly more comfortable with the industry’s use of AI, while 28% became somewhat more comfortable. A large chunk — 44% — reported no change at all. On the other side of the ledger, 8% grew somewhat less comfortable and 6% significantly less so.
Age is a clear dividing line. Teenagers skewed hardest toward acceptance, with 23% saying they’d become significantly more comfortable. Older gamers went the opposite way, with comfort dropping significantly for 15% and somewhat for 10%.
There’s a big caveat buried in the methodology, though. The survey never asked whether respondents actually support AI in games — only whether their comfort level shifted. So a player who went from despising AI to merely disliking it a little less could still register as “significantly more comfortable.” That’s a meaningful nuance when the topic remains this contentious.
And contentious it is. Recent flashpoints include:
- The game Rideshare “Stimulator” drawing heavy criticism for undisclosed AI use
- Expedition 33: Clair Obscur having a reward revoked at the Indie Game Awards over its use of the technology
- An AI-generated music video for Stellar Blade: Blood Rain attracting backlash
- Players slamming Fortnite over some rough AI voice acting
Beyond AI, the report paints a picture of players who mostly want to stay in their comfort zone. Asked about their interest in trying new games over the next 12 months, two-thirds signaled more of the same: 33% want titles similar to what they already play, 19% are after franchise sequels, and 13% plan to keep grinding existing games. Only 21% said they’re chasing something genuinely different, while 14% didn’t know.
Yet the sales charts tell a more optimistic story for originality. Meccha Chameleon, the year’s best-selling game so far, belongs to no existing franchise. Several of last year’s top performers — Peak, Arc Raiders, and Split Fiction — were also fresh series. Sure, shooters and sports titles still dominate the top of the charts (last year’s overall leader was Battlefield 6), but new IP is clearly still capable of breaking through.
The takeaway isn’t that gamers have fallen in love with AI or given up on novelty. It’s that attitudes are shifting incrementally, generational divides are widening, and the gap between what players say they want and what actually sells remains as wide as ever.
