AI 'Wild West' Causes a Gaming 'Civil War' as an Expert Warns Some Developers Should Be 'Very Worried'

Developers making 'low-effort derivative games' should be 'very worried' about competition from AI-generated titles, New York University professor Julian Togelius has warned, as generative AI divides the gaming industry.

Togelius described the split between developers keen to explore the technology and those who see it as a threat to their work as 'something like a civil war' in an interview published by the Daily Star on 8 November 2026.

The disagreement centres on how generative AI is trained and used, and what it could mean for game production and jobs. Some developers are interested in what the tools may make possible.

Others object to systems being trained on existing work and fear the technology could threaten their livelihoods, Togelius said.

Which Game Developers Face the Greatest AI Competition?

Julian Togelius, director of NYU's Game Innovation Lab, said developers making 'low-effort derivative games' should be 'very worried' about AI-generated titles competing with them.

He said original, polished and ambitious games were less likely to be displaced by what he called 'AI slop games eating your lunch'. That is his assessment of future competition, rather than a guarantee that any game is protected.

Noah Wardrip-Fruin, a professor of computational media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said independent developers already struggle to get their games discovered. A larger volume of AI-generated releases could make it harder for players to find smaller titles, including original games.

The interview did not quantify how many AI-generated games are entering the market or how much they affect discoverability.

Why AI's Legal Position Remains Unclear

Julian Togelius described the legal position around generative AI as a 'Wild West'. He said there were not yet enough court cases to establish the legality of many practices, and that it could take years for decisions to clarify the rules.

This describes uncertainty, not a finding that AI training or game development using these tools is unlawful.

Daniela Romano, a professor of Artificial Intelligence & Games at De Montfort University, said the questions were complicated by AI's international reach. A model may be trained on material created in several countries, while tools using it can be distributed globally.

This raises questions about copyright, licensing, ownership of outputs and liability if creators challenge the use of their work.

Romano said the legal framework was still evolving, leaving developers and creators uncertain about how to use AI while protecting intellectual property.

How AI Could Change Game Development for Players

Romano also outlined potential benefits. Daniela Romano's comments covered both game production and the player experience. AI tools could take on repetitive production tasks and reduce development time, she said, giving teams more scope to focus on creative decisions and the player experience.

She suggested the technology could also support more immersive and personalised games.

Julian Togelius said he understood concerns on both sides. What interested him was the possibility of making games with AI that developers could not create before.

The interview sets that prospect against risks involving competition, discoverability and the use of existing work.