Gaming market melts down after Google reveals new AI game design tool — Project Genie crashes stocks for Roblox, Nintendo, CD Projekt Red, and more
www.tomshardware.com
Project Genie can AI-generate "games" capped at 720p and 24 FPS.

Yesterday, Google announced Project Genie, a new generative AI tool that can apparently create entire games from just prompts. It leverages the Genie 3 and Gemini models to generate a 60-second interactive world rather than a fully playable one. Despite this, many investors were scared out of their wits, imagining this as the future of game development, resulting in a massive stock sell-off that has sent the share prices of various video game companies plummeting.

The firms affected by this include Rockstar owner Take-Two Interactive, developer/distributors like CD Projekt Red and Nintendo, along with even Roblox — that one actually makes sense. Most of the games you find on the platform, including the infamous “Steal a Brainrot,” are not too far from AI slop, so it’s poetic that the product of a neural network is what hurt its stock.

Unity’s share price fell the most at 20%, since it’s a popular game engine. Generally speaking, that’s how most games operate: they use a software framework, such as Unity or Unreal Engine, which provides basic functionality like physics, rendering, input, and sound. Studios then build their vision on top of these, and some developers even have their own custom in-house solutions, such as Rockstar’s RAGE or Guerrilla’s Decima.

  • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    2·
    2 hours ago
    1. Retro games can totally on the market for completely unreasonable prices, look at any of the NDS pokemon games for a quick point of reference - especially insulting compared to the ease of using a flashcart.
    2. Damn, you’re one of those hardcore collectors. I’m just the kind of person that bought a 3ds for the unique hardware layout and emulate the rest of Nintendo’s handhelds on my Steam Deck, but different strokes I guess.
    3. The 3DS carts I believe are the most prone to failure - most of what I read comes from the Animal Crossing and Pokemon communities (probably due to their dedicated fanbases), so that’d be the primary concern. Considering you can regularly rip your carts using a modded 3DS, staying ahead of it would probably be wise (I’m not hatin’ on the collection, but even diehard physical media collectors should rip their copies for safety).
    • Fecundpossum@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      Yeah man, the prices are unfortunate, but supply and demand is definitely a thing. Items are only worth what people are willing to pay, and I’m fortunate to be able to justify some of my expendable income on growing my collection here and there.

      If you really want your head to hurt, look up some of those really popular games sealed and WATA/PSA graded. Old graded consoles still sealed can sell for 6 digits.

      I definitely have several of my favorites ripped for a rainy day. It’s definitely not a hobby for everyone. I have more modern emulation machines that can easily run all of my backups, but there’s really no replacement for the real games on real hardware. Just like some people are audiophile vinyl collectors who thumb their nose at Spotify and a pair of ear buds.