Season 7, Episode 8: Games and AI (with Joost van Dreunen)

On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Joost van Dreunen, the CEO of Aldora, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the author of the SuperJoost Playlist blog as well as the book One Up.

We dive into the profound impact of generative artificial intelligence on the video game industry, exploring the immediate market reactions to new tools and the long-term implications for creative production. Among other things, we discuss:

• How generative AI models like Google's Genie will actually transform the fundamental mechanics of interactive game engines
• Why public markets reacted so aggressively to experimental AI tools by devaluing established gaming and advertising stocks
• Whether the reduction of production costs through AI will lead to a surplus of mediocre content for consumers
• If game companies are making a mistake by prioritizing technical metrics over the cultural and creative aspects of development
• What happens to the cost of gaming hardware when AI companies compete for the same high-end chipsets and resources
• How a move toward smaller, local language models could eventually disrupt the institutional power of large technology corporations
• When the focus will shift from simple cost efficiency to utilizing AI for creating genuinely new consumer demand

Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast:

• ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on.
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• ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back

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