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Godus developer Peter Molyneux thinks that generative AI is going to be a “real game changer” in video games, and that everyone will be able to “create a game from one single prompt such as ‘Make a battle royale set on a pirate ship.'” These were among Molyneux’s predictions for where video games would be in 25 years.
“AI is going to be a real game changer. There will come a time where AI will be used to create huge parts of a game – AI-generated characters, animations, dialogue, VO, there is so much that AI will be able to tackle,” Molyneux told Eurogamer, who spoke to many industry figures about their visions of the future.
“And finally, I think that AI will open the doors to everyone and allow anyone to make games. You will be able to, for example, create a game from one single prompt such as ‘Make a battle royale set on a pirate ship’ and your AI will go and do that for you.”
Molyneux also predicted that movies and video games would continue to intermix. “I think Hollywood are going to continue to be fascinated with games and keep on coming for more game stories and narrative. The success of Fallout and, to some degree, the Witcher, and the deal between Remedy and Annapurna to bring Control and Alan Wake to the big screen, shows that games have the kinds of worlds where Hollywood can really get stuck in.”
I think a lot about this video profile of Molyneux as he worked on Legacy, his last released game. It’s filled with quotes that seem to echo backwards and forwards through his career, collecting dramatic irony.
“That’s what I always think about when we employ people. They’re giving us the most valuable thing: a little slice of their lives. And if we don’t do something good then how terrible that would be,” Molyneux says in his enthusiastic whisper.
During development, Legacy converted to an blockchain game, seemingly jettisoned many of its features and narrative, and reportedly sold £40 million in land deed NFTs before release. It’s basically unplayable now. How terrible indeed!
“I’ve had loads of excuses in the past. I’ve never done anything on this platform before – excuse. I haven’t got enough money – excuse. I haven’t got the right team – excuse. Now it’s just down to our dedication and passion, finding the soul of what is going to be a great game,” he told Red Bull Gaming five years ago.
Now that Legacy is a disaster, Molyneux’s excuse is that they were “sold” on the idea of the blockchain by the publisher, and that he’s “not a person that deeply understands it.” Never mind that he popped up in Las Vegas in 2021 to talk up all the supposed benefits of blockchain gaming. “We’ve got this unbelievable simulation, this incredible narrative we weave through the game. We’ve got moral choices in there and competing against each other, all within this totally new world, which is, of course, exactly what blockchain is all about.”
Remember: Molyneux has said time and again that he doesn’t talk to the press anymore, and that he no longer overpromises. Although the resonant quotes don’t just come from Molyneux.
“We wanted to make a game that was about building things. I think there’s two reasons for that. I love building things, I think Peter loves the idea of other people building things,” explains Paul McLaughlin, Legacy’s art director. “I think he wants to enable the audience to experience some of this stuff that maybe he doesn’t really quite get himself.”
In that context, you can see why Molyneux would be drawn to generative AI, a tool that claims to help other people build things, and which is most beloved by people who fundamentally don’t quite “get” creativity themselves.
Molyneux and his studio 22cans are now working on Masters Of Albion, a new god game that seems to revive some of Legacy’s features. Much of the reporting around the game has been generous, and much of the criticism of Molyneux gets categorised as taking issue with his “overpromising.” I disagree with both, because there’s a difference between being a moon-eyed overpromiser – what Steve Hogarty described as “an unerringly passionate ouroboros of promises and sadness” – and being deliberately misleading.