Masahiro Sakurai warns AI could flood market with unoriginal games

Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Kirby and Super Smash Bros., has expressed concerns regarding the increasing use of artificial intelligence in video game development. In a recent interview with Denfaminicogamer, Sakurai warned that the widespread use of AI will lead to a surge in unoriginal, low-quality titles that could overwhelm the market.

Sakurai noted that while approximately 19,000 games are released annually on Steam, this number is expected to rise significantly due to AI-driven production. He cautioned that many of these titles may be "unplayable" or merely exact replicas of existing games. He argued that while AI can analyze and mimic the atmosphere of existing works, it lacks the ability to replicate the future creative innovations of human developers.

Emphasizing the importance of intentionality, Sakurai stated that true originality requires creating something that does not yet exist, which he described as a "high hurdle." He expressed concern that AI-generated content could bury meaningful new titles under a mountain of mass-produced clones.