Blizzard Devs Reveal AI Use to Reduce Menial Tasks, Agree Human Touch Is Essential

In an interview with Eurogamer, Blizzard developers revealed that they have been using AI “for the more ‘menial’ areas of development,” which includes helmet fitting on World of Warcraft, which was always a problem due to the characters in the game having horns and unusual ear shapes.

Gabriel Gonzalez, World of Warcraft’s lead visual development artist, mentioned that the handcrafted feel of the game is what makes it very unique. He also revealed that their usage of AI lies in freeing up more time for people to be creative.

The game’s associate design director, Maria Hamilton, added that there is just no beating a narrative created with people. “I don’t think stories resonate as well with people unless they are written by people,” Hamilton said in the interview. She also added, “It’s more about making incredibly talented people not have to do incredibly boring stuff.”

Over at the Overwatch 2 side, game director Aaron Keller mentioned that they don’t use AI to create characters or gameplay. He believes that Blizzard is known for “handcrafted games and handcrafted worlds,” and as such, the development team of the game has focused its efforts on that.

He also added that AI is “obviously starting to take its foothold across a lot of different industries globally, so I think we are going to be seeing more and more of it, whether it’s just in tools that people use.”

AI has been a hot topic in game development. In July, Gaming.News reported on the King layoffs, which were part of the massive Microsoft layoffs. It revealed that those who were fired were going to be replaced with the AI tools that they have built in the studio. A much more recent report revealed that Microsoft is pushing daily usage of AI to 100% this year.