We should be worried about Krafton's "AI-first" announcement

It's no secret that the gaming industry is getting its butt kicked lately.

Profits are down, studios are closing, and layoffs are rife. Even the jobs that do remain are at risk, from that epidemic known as AI. It is something threatening jobs across all industries, and even more worryingly, one of mobile gaming's biggest names is buying into it in a big way.

You have no doubt heard of Krafton, unless you are still using a Nokia brick phone. They are behind huge titles like New State Mobile and, of course, PUBG: Battlegrounds and PUBG Mobile. On October 23rd, the company released an announcement, branding itself an “AI-first company," pouring the equivalent of around $70M into the technology.

It is a move we probably all could have seen coming. Krafton did confirm that InZoi had its backbone made up by generative AI. An announcement that got a lot of backlash. For one, AI uses a tremendous amount of energy. According to a study last year, a single image generation is the equivalent of charging your phone. Sounds small in an isolated case, but given that InZOI used Text to Image, 3D Printing AI, and Video to Motion Technology, that use ramps up quickly.

Then there is the human cost. Voice actors went on strike recently over fears that the AI was going to take their jobs. Artists are losing work to AI images, all in the name of efficiency. And honestly, the quality is rubbish. I am sure you heard of those images with hands having to wrong fingers. Not to mention AI content is boring. It lacks that creative spark humans have, to sound pretentious for a moment. 

But let’s get back on track to Krafton. They are using AI as a “central and primary means of problem-solving." And to make room, they are also “restructuring” their HR systems and organizational operations. There has been no word of any redundancies as of yet, but a restructure is always a worry.

To give Krafton their due, it does sound like they are thinking of their employees during this. They talk of “reinvesting the time freed up through AI adoption into new product development and innovation projects," so they aren’t using AI for the creative side of things. It is simply Agentic AI. A fancy way of saying it does admin, planning, and stuff like that.

More importantly, Krafton is allocating $20M per year to “support its employees in directly utilizing and applying various AI tools to their work." Great, less report writing for the employees, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. When talking about this AI in general. Generative AI is still a worry, and Krafton has shown it is already happy to use it.

Sure, they were transparent about it, and respect for that. But it still got used. It still took jobs away from people. It still created some shoddy gameplay. InZoi nearly dropped to The Sims 3 levels of players because it was that bad. And a big company like Krafton immersing itself even deeper into AI is a big worry.

If they pull it off and do it this publicly, what’s to stop all mobile gaming companies from doing it?