AI turned out to be exactly what was needed for accelerating gaming in the browser timeline. Could you port games to WebGPU/WASM before Opus 5.5? Sure you could, my startup has been in this exact business for over 5 years developing tools for this, and providing porting services for studios.
But now it's a complete paradign shift that anyone can port a popular hit game to the browser just by asking Fable or Opus. Optimization is a whole topic, because most people don't know the specifics around doing so. Streaming of assets is crucial so you don't have the big download problem. Still, someone can tell the model "make it run faster and start up quicker" and the model will largely obey and go ahead and implement that.
We're 100% going to see major portals of console-quality WebGPU games, both ports of well know titles as well as indies using the web as a way to get seen. For anyone interested in real cutting edge in WebGPU, below I've linked to an Unreal Engine 5 FPS running in the browser, you can check it out here: (does not run on mobile, only computers, not Firefox):
At the same time game dev competitions and showcases are being shutdown because “all the AI slop”. I agree with you completely but I also know there’s going to be a lot more noise as people try.
Stuff like this basically means high budget games will become always live services with intrusive checks and lots of streamed encrypted content etc. starting next year or so.
A tragic loss of consumer surplus and incredibly inefficient in terms of resources, bandwidth and people’s time.
Existing streaming services (like NVIDIA GeForce NOW) just deliver video back to the client, so if companies become worried about this in the age of AI that's what'd they'd move towards.
Yeah, live service games are having their backend services emulated and made self-hostable. The future is going to be streamed games. Google may be digging stadia out of the trash soon.
Stadia is an inferior experience, until it becomes the only experience, at which point your choice is Stadia or nothing. Do you really think people are going to choose nothing?
I'd bet more on next Steam adding nextlevel anticheat, mandatory live service components. Or AAA games no longer being a thing, just like AAA albums are not a thing.
I find it hard to imagine a world where it's a choice between what everyone hates or nothing. That's not how gaming has ever worked, or how a (relatively) free market works.
- Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5) for PC was cracked in April 2015, launching almost immediately—on the same day as the official PC release—by the Chinese cracking group 3DM (version 1.24)
kind of a different thing entirely to have it live-streaming on the web with no download required and no need to use sketchy software locally on your computer
While GTA V has aged well, it is a decade+ old game. If someone can get GTA VI running well on the browser even with LLMs it will be an incredible achievement.
It absolutely does, and will be used and enforced by those who want to protect their IP. Within the existing frameworks.
Let's no go down the rabbit hole of "since it's easier now, we need new laws..." to make new laws and regulations about what AI coding can and can't do when the existing copyright laws work perfectly well.
edit: Want to decomp/recomp a game and modify it and change it so you have more fun? Go right ahead. Have a blast. Want to then publish that? You don't have the right to republish their materials without permission. If you do, the owner can run the math of how much it damages them to decide if they pursue it. We don't need the AI generator to police that for us.
Funny ... once upon a time, I can remember the US getting hyperventilated about China and their lack of concern about copyright. I guess, not so much now.
Disclaimer: I'm in neither camp, but just making a note of yet another hypocrisy. I'm into my 17th volume.
Copyright is not really criminal law, so companies have to sue people and it's relatively easy to be anonymous enough on the internet for that threat model, and you can't successfully sue someone if you don't know who they are.
Yeah, piracy is doing better than ever. FMHY shows the entire ecosystem—it's huge: https://fmhy.net/
This will be taken down though if Rockstar tries to because dot coms are not DMCA resistant.
At the end of the day, copyright is trying to constrain information which is not easy on the internet.
Try pressing space/enter. Though to be fair, it's now on the front page and loads something like 800MB of assets, so it may be getting hugged to death.
GTA6 leaker promised leaks based on value of his coin. GTA5 cracker wants you to know his Monero.
Given how brazen these things are becoming, are we entering a new era of piracy where people hack, crack, rip and distribute entire franchises for free and get paid anonymously?
But now it's a complete paradign shift that anyone can port a popular hit game to the browser just by asking Fable or Opus. Optimization is a whole topic, because most people don't know the specifics around doing so. Streaming of assets is crucial so you don't have the big download problem. Still, someone can tell the model "make it run faster and start up quicker" and the model will largely obey and go ahead and implement that.
We're 100% going to see major portals of console-quality WebGPU games, both ports of well know titles as well as indies using the web as a way to get seen. For anyone interested in real cutting edge in WebGPU, below I've linked to an Unreal Engine 5 FPS running in the browser, you can check it out here: (does not run on mobile, only computers, not Firefox):
https://simplystream.dev/GWnafxMj
A tragic loss of consumer surplus and incredibly inefficient in terms of resources, bandwidth and people’s time.
It’s sad but it seems inevitable at this stage.
I think the correct answer is that the video games industry will be a little fucked for the foreseeable future.
I guess if there is no other way of playing good games, but I find that hard to believe.
I find it hard to imagine a world where it's a choice between what everyone hates or nothing. That's not how gaming has ever worked, or how a (relatively) free market works.
Pirated games have always existed. Pirated versions of GTA 5 have been around for years.
Like GabeN said…piracy is a service issue not a price issue.
- Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5) for PC was cracked in April 2015, launching almost immediately—on the same day as the official PC release—by the Chinese cracking group 3DM (version 1.24)
Everything will be streamed and locked behind subscriptions, as god intended
If a living being didn't write it. It's not worth reading
Let's no go down the rabbit hole of "since it's easier now, we need new laws..." to make new laws and regulations about what AI coding can and can't do when the existing copyright laws work perfectly well.
edit: Want to decomp/recomp a game and modify it and change it so you have more fun? Go right ahead. Have a blast. Want to then publish that? You don't have the right to republish their materials without permission. If you do, the owner can run the math of how much it damages them to decide if they pursue it. We don't need the AI generator to police that for us.
Disclaimer: I'm in neither camp, but just making a note of yet another hypocrisy. I'm into my 17th volume.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_wants_to_be_free
Yeah, piracy is doing better than ever. FMHY shows the entire ecosystem—it's huge: https://fmhy.net/
This will be taken down though if Rockstar tries to because dot coms are not DMCA resistant.
At the end of the day, copyright is trying to constrain information which is not easy on the internet.
ps: For the creator, add your website to https://donatemonero.org
Unfortunately the game locked up after about 2 minutes of getting in.
I wonder how many tokens and human steering it took to get this done.
Given how brazen these things are becoming, are we entering a new era of piracy where people hack, crack, rip and distribute entire franchises for free and get paid anonymously?