At Gamescom this year, we had the exciting opportunity to sit down with Maria Hamilton, a Senior Game Designer at Blizzard Entertainment. Hamilton shared her insights on the role of AI in game design and the essential human touch that still drives the heart of storytelling and gameplay in WoW.
Artificial intelligence continues to revolutionize many industries, and game development is no exception. Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind World of Warcraft (WoW), has found quite smart ways to use AI to streamline their development processes. Though the integration of AI might not be directly visible to players, it plays a crucial role in making the vast world of Azeroth come to life more efficiently and effectively.
At Gamescom, we had the opportunity to hold an interview with Blizzard representatives regarding the new War Within expansion for World of Warcraft. During this discussion, it became clear how essential AI has become in their development toolkit.
How Blizzard uses AI for World of Warcraft – Interview at Gamescom
One of the key ways Blizzard is leveraging AI in World of Warcraft is through machine learning tools to optimize art asset production. Maria Hamilton, Associate Design Director on WoW, shared insights into how these tools help artists manage the complexity of creating the game’s numerous characters and environments.
"We do some machine learning," Hamilton explained. "Because we have different kinds of races of characters, they have different sized heads. And so, it’s a very tedious task for an artist to adjust every helmet for every head type. So, we use a machine learning tool that goes ahead and does an initial pass at that, and then an artist just needs to verify and make tiny tweaks."
This application of AI is primarily focused on tasks that are repetitive and non-creative. Instead of spending countless hours on minor adjustments for each character race – tasks that could take a lot of time and precision – Blizzard’s team lets AI handle the first round of edits. The machine learning algorithm automatically fits helmets and other equipment to different character models, saving artists a significant amount of time while ensuring the results are accurate.
"We’re always doing things that are sort of time-saving, machine-learning kinds of activities for non-creative tasks," Hamilton added.
In the interview, she explained that while AI is excellent for handling repetitive and non-creative tasks, it cannot replace the unique insights and artistic vision that human designers bring to the table.
The future of AI in game development
While Blizzard currently uses AI mainly for background tasks, the potential for expanding its role in game development is big. Since time and resources are precious, AI offers an opportunity to streamline the production and focus more on creative innovation. Therefore, it’s likely that Blizzard, along with other game studios, will explore even more ways to integrate AI into their workflows, both for development and possibly even in-game experiences.
For now, though, Blizzard's use of AI remains a powerful behind-the-scenes tool, quietly helping to make World of Warcraft more efficient to develop.
And as Hamilton suggested during our interview at Gamescom, it’s only the beginning. AI is likely to play a bigger role in game development in the years to come, supporting artists and developers in creating even more expansive and detailed worlds without the burden of tedious, manual work.