Luke Dicken, former Head of AI at Take-Two Interactive, and Emilio Coppola, Executive Director of the Godot Engine, shared their perspectives in an interview with the international media outlet Kotaku on the impact that the growing use of AI for game analysis, porting, and emulation is having on the industry.
How Should Industry Stakeholders Address AI-Driven Porting and Cloning?
In an interview with Kotaku, Dicken pointed out that the trend of decompiling and porting existing games—including “unauthorized ports” carried out without the rights holders’ permission—is “an issue that developers and publishers should take seriously.”
He predicted that “more intrusive DRM (digital rights management) and platform-specific measures” will be implemented to protect games in the future, and expressed the view that these defensive measures will be detrimental to consumers.
Mr. Dicken also noted that while game piracy, cracking, and decompilation have existed for some time, AI has made these activities easier to carry out and has led to their more widespread occurrence. “Our defenses are lagging behind in social, legal, and technical terms, but I believe things will stabilize over time,” he stated.
Emilio Coppola of Godot Engine, who was also interviewed, raised concerns about the responsibility of platforms that allow the sale of AI-generated knockoffs.He argued, “Developers should not bear the burden of protecting their games from malicious actors.” Citing Steam as an example, he noted that the service “allows the sale of low-quality clones of works created by developers and profits from them, yet faces no criticism.”
He also revealed that many developers are so fearful of the risk of being copied that they feel anxious even about releasing Early Access versions. Recently, there have been cases where developers have been threatened with the release of clone games based on their works-in-progress before their own titles are finished.
Xbox Holds Out Hope for Porting and Modification Technologies, but Faces Criticism for Unauthorized Use
While some industry insiders express concern, there are also efforts to utilize porting and modification technologies in new ways. Most recently, Xbox has taken note of this technological trend and announced the establishment of a new organization, “Xbox Labs.”
Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, sees potential in the reuse of past titles and player-driven creativity, noting, “Even if it disrupts existing business models, it’s clearly a positive outcome for players.” Regarding rights issues, she has also demonstrated a commitment to responsibly managing intellectual property (IP) and the communities surrounding it.
While ways to utilize the technology are being explored, there have been voices of criticism in Japan regarding unauthorized ports. Dogura, a player for the professional esports team Crazy Raccoon, commented on the topic of the unauthorized port of *Tekken 6* for PC on his X account, stating, “That *Tekken 6* ‘pirated version’? It’s gone way too far.”“I’m horrified that no one overseas is speaking out against this,” he said, expressing his hope for appropriate action to be taken.
