EA Sports College Football 25 already looks like a significant success for EA, with millions of players picking up the game despite only releasing partway through July. We enjoyed our time with the game, which was in development for almost a decade. Even with all that time, EA says that "in the absence of AI, we simply would not have been able to deliver College Football at the level we did".
During its latest financial report (thanks, GamesRadar+), in prepared remarks, EA CEO Andrew Wilson says that the secret sauce is the combination of skilled teams empowered through the use of generative AI, a technology the executive has been quite bullish about: "Creating 150 unique stadiums and over 11,000 player likenesses couldn't be done without EA's deep history of being a technology leader and by our incredibly passionate and talented teams harnessing the power of AI and machine learning to deliver truly amazing entertainment."
Elaborating, it seems like this is the path the company will continue down, and we imagine much of the industry will, too. Wilson continues to praise what this controversial but undeniably effective technology made possible: "The reality is our teams are incredible, and we built workflows to facilitate that, but they were amplified and accelerated through AI and machine learning. We were able to take in a whole plethora of photo imagery across 11,000 players and build workflows out where AI and machine learning would generate heads, and our very talented artists would be able to come in and touch up and enhance those heads versus having to go through the full head development programs. In the absence of AI, we simply would not have been able to deliver College Football at the level we did, even though we've given the team many, many years in development."
What do you think of the direction in which developers at major publishers are headed? It doesn't seem like many College Football players were even aware of this, and with so many sales so quickly, there is no reason for EA not to continue using AI in the future. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
[source s22.q4cdn.com, via gamesradar.com]
Comments 31
Machine learning to create faces based on photos of real people has been done for years. FM’s regens have generated faces too and have done for a good while. It’s pretty much the gold standard use of this tech, turning incredibly long and boring work into an automated process. This is what is meant when people say generative AI is a tool. Not comparable to the way it’s being used to attempt to eliminate human creativity.
Power of AI? Odd, none of the models look like eldritch horror creatures.
I think that AI will have its uses and its benefits but I fear that publishers will just use this tool as a means to scale back on the people they hire thus making even more money for the shareholders etc by eliminating the wage bill...not a great future for talented programers and designers to be honest.
@nessisonett good read, gotta agree.
@Northern_munkey but AI is just a tool that makes everyone’s jobs easier like a lot of things already have done. Didn’t bank employees back in the day fear that calculators were gonna replace their jobs or something like that?
Don't know why they have to brag about using AI, like I'm supposed to be impressed. I'd be more impressed if they managed to make this sport interesting.
@nessisonett 100% agree with you! A lot of developers assume we don't want them to use AI at all, but that's not entirely the case. How EA used it here is the correct (and in my opinion, only correct) way to use it, like you said.
Kudos for showing Clemson in the article picture, my undergrad alma mater!
I'll speak for university of louisville stadium...it has most features, but it's still kinda bland and lacking in what I would consider impressive detail.
I am not against the use of AI, in fact, I totally encourage developers to go for it. These days, games have gotten so HUGE (which I believe is unnecessary btw) and complex that some cases it takes almost 8-10 years to release something, and by then, we'll be old and gray. AI can seriously speed things up, so the next Naughty Dog game won't take until the PS7 to come out.
Yeah, AI means a lot of things and this a good use of it (that's been around for a good while).
Unfortunately the term has become a buzzword to push the questionable applications...
Going forward I would love to have AI used to make commentary more dynamic and linked to actual events and outcomes in franchise modes of sports sims. If you can feed AI information and have it write scripts I don’t see why this couldn’t be feasible.
As long as EA doesn't use AI to replace jobs, I'm with it.
EA is gonna use AI to replace jobs, aren't they...
Human developers could never do this. No, we're not trying to justify redundancies, honest, why we would lie to you?
AI is just a tool, it's how we use that tool that matters.
No one had a problem when Asobo and Microsoft used the power of AI to transform photographs from Bing Maps satellites and other data to recreate the whole world in Microsoft Flight Simulator, this is similar. It simply would not be feasible at this scale with 11,000 player to do well and still make a profit, which means it couldn't be made to the same standard otherwise. We need to support this type of AI use. I am excited to see what developers can do with it.
The trouble is we know there will be some middle managers and bean counters that want to save money in more creative areas. We need to protect against them.
Read: We didn't pay developers fully to create it through human labour, made it more cost efficient through not paying workers correctly and now launder this through a marketing campaign that includes news outlets to please investors.
@HotGoomba as sure as the sun rises in the east
@Thumper this.
Ugh...AI has been in game development for years. This hype is unnecessary prep work on us. Like Mom sneaking Sour Cream into a recipe then telling us later after we praised the dish, knowing how much we hate sour cream.
Both things can be true.
11,000 likenesses could not have been done on time without AI.
AI will be replacing more and more jobs as it's used to do more and more tasks that "take too long" for humans to do.
I'm ok w/ AI doing some stuff, just as I'm ok using my microwave to reheat food rather than turning on my oven. But to say it won't be taking human jobs is a lie. Of course it won't be taking any CEO jobs, those guys need money to pay for their jet and yacht fuel. 🤑
@nomither6 I don't disagree with you but like all tools it's open for abuse.
Bruh how long would've it actually taken 11k seems like a lot to generate 😅
@nomither6 but their jobs were affected. Most banks I visit have very few employees working (usually one is supposed to help all customers, because almost everything is done online.
@naruball And yet, unemployment is at one of its lowest levels ever. One can argue about the quality of those jobs, but that's beyond the point.
I'm not all in on AI for a number of reasons, but what I really wanna know from you is: should banks have not embraced automation over that last few decades to keep the jobs of people doing unnecessary paperwork?
@Art_Vandelay no. Automation is absolutely fine. What's not fine is constantly trying to cut costs at the customer's expense. I find waiting in huge lines because they hire fewer and fewer people unacceptable. Same with forcing you to use online platforms and ATMs by charging for every single thing when you visit the bank (e.g. withdrawing money, cashing a check, writing a check, etc). Options are fine. Charging if you choose to interact with a human being, not so much.
Also, it depends on what counts for unemployment. In some countries, if you work two months per year, you're not counted as unemployed. In other countries, you are. And even if you are employed, if you don't make enough to support yourself and have to live with your parents (a worldwide phenomenon), then is unemployment the best criterion to use to determine the effects of automation or AI?
I remember having my player avatar built out of my pictures on a Madden on PS3 and it was perfect. Was like seeing myself on the field, I even took screenshots and show it to friends to demonstrate how good the acquisition was. Then, for some reasons, the feature was completely removed by following Maddens.
It couldn't be done without AI blahblah but they've literally been doing it for years without it.
@nomither6 calculators did replace their jobs.
We had human calculators for centuries. NASA famously got to the moon on the backs of their calculations. When we were still using punch-cards, just about every tech company in the world had a team of calculators. That role disappeared very very quickly, taking many (largely female) jobs out of the workplace forever.
@naruball You're conflating so many separate things in one argument, that it doesn't even make sense. Post modernist discourse at its finest.
@Art_Vandelay sure, buddy.
EA Sports College Football 25 is a great example of how artificial intelligence can revolutionize gaming. It's amazing to see how technology is helping to create realistic stadiums and players, making the experience more immersive. Reading about these advances reminded me of how AI is also transforming education, but not always in a good way. For example, services such as https://edubirdie.com/ provide real people, which is rare, as most such services use artificial intelligence to help students write and edit. This resource can be a good time and effort saver. In gaming, AI is becoming a valuable tool, demonstrating its potential to improve various aspects of our lives. I can't wait to see what EA and others achieve next!
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