Unity CEO says he's 'less focused' on generative AI

As the game industry is becoming embroiled in the current and potential use of generative AI, Unity CEO Matt Bromberg is "less focused" on it at the moment.

Speaking with VentureBeat, he said the engine maker is prioritizing "how we can help customers make games more efficiently and less expensively." While he believes genAI can help with that, there's bigger concerns than the controversial technology.

"Unity is agnostic to the derivation of the 3D asset. It can be created in AI," he said. "When you make games, you ingest your assets into the engine and then you start building. We’re interested in that moment and everything that comes after."

Companies like EA and Microsoft have touted the potential of generative AI as a much-needed assist to game development. Bromberg shares that same belief, clearly, but he also figures that making games will always be the process' biggest "pain point."

In theory, pre-made engines like Unity and Godot can reduce that friction, genAI or no. He believes the former is "uniquely positioned" to help by obfuscating engine complexity and the larger development process.

However, he didn't dismiss genAI's potential, either. He believes the technology will eventually have a "meaningful impact" on software, even if the bubble inevitably pops. "That's true of games and anything else," he acknowledged.

There's a "challenge" for developers of blockchain games, which haven't gone mainstream, Bromberg continued. Focusing on monetization has hurt the genre more than helped it, but that's also an issue he thinks will be solved over time.

"In the game industry, you can always depend on people to innovate their way into new things. It’s probably just a matter of time, but I haven’t seen it yet."

Bromberg's full interview with VentureBeat, which also covers topics like executives communicating with audiences and dictating platform support, can be read here.