Mobile Game Relies on AI-Generated Content for Over a Year Without Player Backlash

This article is part of AI Week. For about a year, the mobile game Sunrise Village has been generating all its content using AI, without any noticeable backlash from players. According to Thomas Lehr, InnoGames' director of engineering, 'player numbers and engagement have remained stable,' with 'zero community complaints about AI or perceived quality differences.' The use of AI in content creation has allowed the game to continue operating with a minimal team, while maintaining the high quality of content that players expect. Lehr notes that 'the alternative was shutting down the game,' and that 'most players would rather keep playing' given the choice. The game's monthly revenue has been around $160,000 to $190,000, but with costs such as the 30% store cut, taxes, and marketing expenses, the game was considered underperforming financially. The introduction of AI has enabled the game to continue operating with a significantly reduced team, from 25 to between two and four people. Lehr emphasizes that 'we still think the human touch matters' in AI-assisted content generation, and that 'we don't just take whatever the AI produces – we guide it, refine it, and own the final result.' The AI process is based on OpenAI's GPT-4 model, which Lehr notes is 'already quite an outdated model by today's standards,' but was a breakthrough in intelligence when implemented. InnoGames also uses various image and video creation tools, and AI plays a significant role in localization workflows. The company has found that one of the most efficient uses for AI is automatically labeling the many thousands of assets created for every game. Lehr says that InnoGames is currently rolling out the AI labeling tool to other games, and that 'besides story and quest creation, it's been one of the most immediately impactful applications of AI in our Sunrise Village workflow.' The use of AI has sparked concerns about job security and the potential for AI to replace human workers. However, Lehr insists that the aim is to increase productivity rather than cut roles, and that 'we're expecting significant productivity gains that will enable us to pursue more projects simultaneously and deliver more of our roadmaps – and thus more value for players.' Lémuel Wuibout, a senior lead artist at InnoGames, notes that the introduction of AI has allowed artists to focus on more creative work, and that 'it's been interesting to learn a new skill' along with others at the company. Wuibout emphasizes that artists are still needed to tweak AI-generated images before they're used in the actual game, particularly for things like consistency with the art style. The use of AI has also sped up the workflow, with Wuibout noting that 'it definitely made us more efficient,' and that 'when I see how fast we were able to move on Cozy Coast compared to the time it took us on Sunrise Village to get to the same point, it clearly allowed us to do more.' Despite the benefits of AI, there are still concerns about the potential risks, including vendor dependency and the possibility of AI companies increasing their prices. Lehr notes that 'it's a valid concern,' but believes that strong competition between providers will keep prices in check, and that open-source alternatives will follow shortly behind frontier models. The plan at InnoGames is to double down on AI, with Lehr stating that 'building on the Sunrise Village success, we're expanding AI content generation across InnoGames.' The company sees AI as a 'productivity multiplier,' allowing game designers to generate more ideas, iterate faster, and validate concepts more quickly. Lehr predicts that AI content generation will become widespread across the mobile sector, and that 'companies that figure out how to effectively integrate AI into their workflows will be able to do more with the same resources – and likely in better quality, since humans can focus on creative and high-value work, while AI handles the repetitive tasks consistently.'