EA exec claims AI in game development sparks creativity, but layoffs tell a different story

EA exec says AI has helped drive 'a real rise of creativity' at its studios

Laura Miele says removing the "tedious tasks" of game development has resulted in "shorter, faster conversations around creativity and coming to alignment." Electronic Arts' president of enterprise development Laura Miele says the rise of artificial intelligence in game development can bring about "a real rise in creativity" by removing tedious grunt work and enabling faster development processes overall. Miele expressed her thoughts on the matter earlier this month during a Game Business Live showcase at Summer Game Fest, where she was asked if the growing use of AI tools will result in shorter development cycles overall. "Perhaps in some parts they will," Miele said. "I really believe in what I've seen, that I'm pretty excited about. I've always wanted to help our studio developers remove friction and I've always kind of wanted to be a hero to them and help them create career-defining experiences. "And I think that AI, what I've seen, how AI has enabled removing friction from our pipelines and our tools and our workflows, has been pretty exciting. It's removed some tedium out of their jobs. And I've seen faster prototyping. I've seen faster creativity and shorter, faster conversations around creativity and coming to alignment. So, we're seeing it and I think there's a real rise of creativity that comes from removing some of the tedious tasks out of development." earlier this weekFumito Ueda at GenDesignExactly what sort of AI is being discussed here isn't made clear, and there's a big gulf between, say, the AI-powered project management tools used by Shadow of the Colossus director Fumito Ueda at GenDesign and the generative AI slop machines that have become such a pox on, well, everything. But EA hasn't been shy in the past about its enthusiasm for generative AI. CEO Andrew Wilson said in 2024, for instance, that the company is "embracing [generative AI] deeply," and that "about 60% of all of our development processes have high feasibility to be positively impacted by generative AI." EA is also reportedly counting on the power of AI to bring down its operating costs and help cover the $20 billion in debt financing the company took on as part of its $55 billion acquisition by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. (If you're wondering why EA, the target of the acquisition, is also taking on billions of dollars of debt to pay for it, PC Gamer's foremost finance wiz Lincoln Carpenter explains. The short version: Everyone's terrified.) Employees are reportedly less upbeat about the AI-powered future, which some suspect is being used to justify layoffs at the company. Whether driven by AI or not, EA has laid off hundreds of employees at BioWare, Respawn, Cliffhanger Games -- which was closed outright -- and elsewhere since the Saudi investment was announced in September 2025. The most recent round of cuts reportedly occurred earlier this week, putting an undisclosed number of people out of work.

EA Continues Making Vague Promises About AI Efficiencies

President of Enterprise Development Laura Miele sees the potential One of the biggest issues plaguing the video game industry right now is how long new games take to make. Development cycles that were as little as 18 months back in the PlayStation 2 generation have ballooned to five years or more. Do big companies think new genAI tools can bridge that gap? That was a question EA's president of enterprise development, Laura Miele, was asked during The Game Business Live earlier this month. "Perhaps in some parts they will," she said in response, according to Eurogamer. "I really believe in what I've seen, that I'm pretty excited about. I've always wanted to...help our studio developers remove friction, and I've always kind of wanted to be a hero to them and help them create career-defining experiences." She continued, "And I think that AI, what I've seen, how AI has enabled removing friction from our pipelines and our tools and our workflows, has been pretty exciting. It's removed some tedium out of their jobs -- and I've seen faster prototyping, I've seen faster creativity, and shorter, faster conversations around creativity and coming to alignment. And so...I think it's super interesting. I think there's a real rise of creativity that comes from removing some of the tedious tasks about development." It doesn't sound like Miele went into specifics around what creativity was being fostered by new AI tools. Cutting down on friction sounds great, but it's only a hop, skip, and a jump from prototyping with genAI assets to ending up with AI slop all over your game's big reveal. There's a lot of debate about just how much time is saved, and much less debate about how much players resoundingly hate hearing that any genAI was used in the making of their new favorite game. Miele's answer is of a piece with the rest of the corporate bandwagoning around AI, which is to say lots of big but vague aspirations. "We view AI as a powerful accelerator of creativity, innovation, and player connection," EA CEO Andrew Wilson told investors last year. "Across our teams, we're investing in new workflows and capabilities to integrate AI to enhance how we build, scale and personalize experiences. From dynamic in-game worlds to delivering authentic athlete and team likenesses at incredible scale, our developers are using AI to push the boundaries of what's possible in design, animation and storytelling, helping us deliver deeper, more immersive gameplay." Does that include Star Wars Jedi 3? Mass Effect 5? We've already seen apparent AI slop creep its way into Battlefield 6. Unfortunately, EA has a vested interest in the AI bet panning out. It has a $55 billion leveraged sale to Saudi Arabia that might hinge in part on the controversial technology's ability to cut costs and ramp up profits. I mean creativity.