In a recent survey, we explored gamers’ attitudes towards the use of Gen AI in video games and whether those attitudes varied by demographics and gaming motivations. The overwhelmingly negative attitude stood out compared to other surveys we’ve run over the past decade.
In an optional survey (N=1,799) we ran from October through December 2025 alongside the Gamer Motivation Profile, we invited gamers to answer additional questions after they had looked at their profile results. Some of these questions were specifically about attitudes towards Gen AI in video games.
Overall, the attitude towards the use of Gen AI in video games is very negative. 85% of respondents have a below-neutral attitude towards the use of Gen AI in video games, with a highly-skewed 63% who selected the most negative response option.
Such a highly-skewed negative response is rare in the many years we’ve conducted survey research among gamers. As a point of comparison, in 2024 Q2-Q4, we collected survey data on attitudes towards a variety of game features. The chart below shows the % negative (i.e., below neutral) responses for each mentioned feature. In that survey, 79% had a negative attitude towards blockchain-based games. This helps anchor where the attitude towards Gen AI currently sits. We’ll come back to the “AI-generated quests/dialogue” feature later in this blog post since we break down the specific AI use in another survey question.
Yes, absolutely it is virtue signalling. You are taking an utterly meaningless stance for which the only upside for anyone is you think you maintain some kind of honour despite consuming “theft slop” unknowingly every day, even as you read this sentence, and the only downside for anyone is that you don’t get to experience a game that you otherwise would enjoy used to have, even if deliberately and knowingly, used to have some AI textures.
You’re the one who ignored what I said, which is why I’m essentially just having to repeat myself. If you take such hardline stance that any use at all is “theft slop”, you might as well go offline. It’s in the code that made the app you’re using. It’s in the code running your OS. It’s in music you listen to. It’s in the movies you watch.
Absolutely push back on theft - deliberate misrepresentation of someone’s work or style as orignal. Absolutely push back on slop. Just because it took a minute to generate something doesn’t mean you don’t then check it before productionising it. But taking this weird religious stance where something literally is tainted from previously having used AI, that is just for you. You’ve got about 30,000 days on this earth, man. Probably a good chunk of that is gone already. Spend a few hours of it playing an interesting, original game which does more to demonstrate the value of real creativity and originality than any little personal protest you indulge yourself in.