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A new report on the Japanese Online game industry has shown that 100 percent of polled developers are currently using generative AI.
This report, the 2026 edition of Japan's Online Game Association's (JOGA) Online Game Market Research Report, digs down into the topic of generative AI use in earnest. In a preview of the full report published by Famitsu, some insight can be gleaned into the adoption of the technology.
The most staggering of generative AI findings from this report is that 100 percent of polled Japanese developers are utilizing generative AI. Google's Gemini is the most popular entity among generative AI software, with 94 percent confirming its use. Following it comes Anthropic's Claude at 84 percent, and Microsoft's GitHub CoPilot at 76 percent.
This same survey found that the tasks most frequently being tackled with generative AI assistance was "user preference analysis" and "user behavior prediction". On the flip side of this coin, the report also surveyed game players, and found the most prevalent concern was surrounding copyright infringement. Another popular concern among users was games becoming similar to each other due to generative AI use.
What this report indicates is a continuation of generative AI adoption in Japan. While online games do not encompass the entire industry (games on both console and PC without multiplayer components are not included for example, think Pragmata). However, prior industry surveys such as the 2025 annual Tokyo Game Show survey showed that generative AI adoption was on the rise. At that time, 50 percent of surveyed developers - for online games and otherwise - confirmed it was in use.
Developers like Capcom have individually confirmed its use too, saying it had seen a "certain degree of effectiveness" from generative AI. At the time, it emphasised that the creative components of game development would remain human-led, and Sony likewise shared a similar sentiment in a recent annual investor presentation. It's interesting to compare those comments to this report, and the revelation that what AI tools are used are largely general-purpose programs like Claude and Gemini, rather than generative AI tools built to create visual or audio assets. Indeed, the most popular use cases in this JOGA report relate to data analysis.
Japan, and other Asian development hubs like South Korea, appear to be largely embracing generative AI as a tool for game development. Meanwhile, Western developers are more reserved about its use. While Epic Games is pushing the use of generative AI tools in its latest Unreal Engine packages, developers like Adhoc Studios (Dispatch) have explicitly pushed back against its use. The regional consumer's appetite for AI is surely a factor, with Western gamers pushing back with more ferocity against the technology. Even beloved studios like Larian, basking in the success of Baldur's Gate 3, are not sheltered from community pushback to a pro generative AI adoption stance.
This report also comes at a time when increased skepticism around generative AI is rising, not just from gamers but from investors in Western markets. Only 38 percent of affluent investors are comfortable with AI as of February this year according to market research firm Cerulli Associates, and big tech companies like Uber are pulling back on generative AI use after the blowing through its AI budget as subsidisation of tokens has decreased.
AI industry leaders like Anthropic and Open AI are under increasing pressure to produce profit. The fact of the matter is that while Japanese game developers may be making use of Gemini and Claude, the companies behind such software are likely losing money hand-over-fist as they do so. Whether these game developers will continue to have such an appetite for generative AI if (or rather when) it becomes more expensive to do so is the pressing question not just in the video game industry right now, but across the global economy.
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