Comment by functionmouse

The whales in the video game economy can be automated. It's been clear to me for a while that, while video games are indeed now the most lucrative form of media ever to have existed, most of that money is in slop. Skinner box phone games, match 3's, Temple Run/Subway Surfers clones, Clash of Clans clones, literal gambling games where you spend money for (worthless) tokens to enter matches with a prize pot where all the contestants are secretly bots and the outcome is determined before you even start playing...

I'm certain this could be automated, and the victims will continue bleeding. Can't help that, I guess, as long as the interested parties are eating good.

Worth noting, from the article,

> Shares of "Grand Theft Auto" maker Take-Two Interactive fell 10%, online gaming platform Roblox was down over 12%, while videogame engine maker Unity Software dropped 21%.

GTA and Roblox both rely heavily on these Skinner box style tactics to manipulate users into spending more money than they otherwise would for simple cosmetic or gameplay content. And I'm not entirely certain how unity falls into this but from what I understand it's one of the most popular engines for making phone games.

> Project Genie also has the potential to shorten lengthy development cycles and reduce costs, as some premium titles take around five to seven years and hundreds of millions of dollars to create.

Wouldn't this also lower the perceived value, and thus, potential revenue of these games, also?

> Videogame developers have been increasingly adopting artificial intelligence as a way to stand out in a highly competitive industry dominated by large players. A Google study last year showed that nearly 90% of game developers use AI agents.

How does doing something the way 90% of studios are doing it make you stand out, then?