Xbox chief says AI won’t replace big open‑world games

Xbox chief Asha Sharma told Fortune Brainstorm Tech that she does not think generative AI will replace the huge, costly worlds of AAA games. She said AI can help make new game types and speed up work, but it will not stand in for 50‑80 hour deep experiences.

Sharma explained that generative AI is good at making art assets, short code pieces, early prototypes, dialogue and experimental ideas. She added that AI still has a "systems problem", it struggles with game economies, matchmaking and social rules, not just content creation.

She noted the gaming field has been flooded with AI hype, layoffs and budget overruns, which makes developers nervous about promised efficiency. She mentioned that PlayStation has taken a similar view, rolling out its own AI tools for game production.

Sharma reminded listeners that graphics cards were first built to improve game graphics, not to train neural networks. She argued that gaming will keep pushing GPU and related tech forward.

She warned that AI cannot grasp why a long game feels fun or why an open world feels alive. She said feeding prompts to AI cannot create the next Halo and called unoriginal AI output "content theft".