The generative AI debate in gaming keeps getting louder, and one of the biggest survival games on the planet just made its position clear. Palworld developer Pocketpair does not use generative AI, and publishing and communications head John Buckley says the reasoning is pretty simple: players don't want it, and the artists don't need it.
The player verdict is already in
Buckley puts it bluntly: "Gamers don't want it. If the gamers don't want it, I guess that's it, right? Not much of a conversation to be had."
Here's the thing, that's a pretty refreshing take from a studio that has spent the past year under a microscope. Pocketpair has previously had to shut down claims that generative AI was used to create Palworld's creatures or assets. Buckley is now going further, confirming the studio avoids gen AI entirely.
The timing matters. At Summer Game Fest this month, multiple games including a revived Crazy Taxi and the latest Tomb Raider entry had to publicly address their AI usage after player backlash hit immediately. Steam's mandatory AI disclosure labels on store pages have turned gen AI into a near-instant deal-breaker for a vocal segment of the playerbase.
Artists who actually want to make things
Beyond the player response, Buckley points to something more straightforward: Pocketpair's in-house team simply doesn't want to hand their work off to an algorithm. "We have a lot of artists in-house," he says. "They like doing stuff themselves. There's no reason to get rid of them for the sake of an AI doing it. Just seems pointless."
That framing is worth sitting with. This isn't a studio reluctantly avoiding AI because of PR risk. The people doing the actual creative work at Pocketpair aren't asking for it.
Buckley also flags what he's seeing at Steam Next Fest, the seasonal event where thousands of developers post playable demos. He noticed a growing number of AI-generated assets and listing images slipping into recent Next Fest entries, and his reaction mirrors what players have been saying. “Even I, who is in the industry, I just felt like a natural, ugh, why? The rest of your game looks fine. Did you need to...?”
The "authenticity market" and what comes next
Buckley has previously floated the idea of an "authenticity market" emerging, where studios actively lead with the fact that their games are entirely human-made. He sees that becoming a selling point as AI-generated content spreads. Already, developers are volunteering unprompted in press emails and store pages that no AI was involved in their production.
His take on where that ends up is worth noting. "I don't know if we need to now start saying this is 100% human-made. I think we should just all assume games are human-made unless said otherwise. I think it's a bit dystopian that it might end up like that. We'll have to put a Steam disclaimer, 'This game is made by humans.' That's kind of sad to think about."
He also acknowledges the picture isn't uniform globally. Some markets, particularly in East Asia, appear more open to experimenting with gen AI tools. Stellar Blade studio Shift Up's CEO has publicly stated that AI could help Korean developers compete with the sheer manpower of studios in China and the United States. Buckley sees a growing clash between those regional attitudes and Western player sentiment over the next two to three years.
For now, Pocketpair's position is clear, and Palworld's player community is the direct reason for it. What most players miss in this conversation is that studios like Pocketpair aren't making a philosophical stand so much as a practical one: the audience spoke, the artists agreed, and the math worked out. For everything Pocketpair has planned next, the Palworld guides collection has you covered on what's already in the game.
