PlayStation sees AI as a ‘powerful tool’ for game development

As part of earnings presentation on FridaySony has shared how it’s thinking about AI at the company, including details on how it’s exploring AI as part of PlayStation game development. Generative AI has recently emerged in the big games – even many indie developers deny it – and while Sony calls AI “a powerful tool,” it says “the vision, design, and impact of our games always come from the creativity of the studio and our musicians.” and that “AI should enhance their abilities, not replace them.”

At its studios, Sony says developers are “automating iterative workflows, streamlining software production, and accelerating areas such as color accuracy, 3D simulation, and animation using new AI tools.” One example is a tool called “Mockingbird” that can render 3D facial expressions using image data, and Sony says Mockingbird is completing a drawing that previously took hours in “a fraction of a second.”

The Last of Us The creator of Naughty Dog is God of War developer Santa Monica studio is among those who have used the tool, and work from Mockingbird has appeared in titles including Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. However, “we’re not replacing the actors, but we’re improving the way we edit the footage,” according to Sony.

Sony also says that it has partnered with Bandai Namco “to see how Generative AI and the latest technologies can help realize a developer’s vision for video production.” Through their “research”, companies have found “great gains in speed and productivity per person” and the opportunity that “AI can produce more sophisticated and realistic” results that were not possible due to “time constraints.” But Sony also sees “inconsistency and control” as a weakness of AI output models.

As part of their earnings, Sonly also announced that PS5 sales it has decreased by 46 percent year after year following a significant cost increase.