CESA: 85.8% of Japanese game developers use generative AI

• According to the initial figures, 85.8% use generative AI at work, up from 51% in the previous report.
• Among AI users, 63% say they use the technology daily and 22.8% only occasionally; 8.6% say their company has introduced AI guidelines.

What happened

Japan’s industry group CESA has released a preliminary summary of its latest survey of game developers. The figures are not yet fully broken down, but the first publication shows that generative AI is now being used widely across Japan’s game industry. In the available reporting, the summary is linked to the broader CESA Video Game Industry Report cycle and to the context of CEDEC, the Japanese developers conference where the survey was reportedly discussed in secondary coverage.

In the summary, 85.8% of the 1,349 respondents say they use generative AI in their work. That is a clear increase from the previous report, which put the figure at 51%. The available information does not make clear whether the question wording, sample, or measurement method was exactly the same as last year, so the numbers should not automatically be read as a direct like-for-like comparison. The preliminary summary does explicitly note that it is based on a large respondent pool, but it does not yet provide a full methodological breakdown.

The summary also points to specific uses. According to the reporting, AI is being used to generate assets and handle general administrative tasks, with tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot. Among users, 63% say they use the technology daily, while 22.8% say they only use AI occasionally. Secondary reporting also says companies are using AI to save time, speed up development, and reduce costs, while still keeping manual review steps in place in many cases.

In addition, 8.6% of respondents say their company has introduced guidelines for AI use. The preliminary summary does not yet give a full picture of those rules or how companies are controlling AI use in production workflows. It is also unclear how many of the 1,349 respondents came from individual studios versus major publishers, and how representative the sample is of the wider Japanese games industry.

Background

The figures fit a broader trend in which Japanese game companies are increasingly folding generative AI into their development processes. The available reporting cites benefits such as time savings, faster development, and lower costs, while also noting that manual checks are still being kept in place and that some AI tools are restricted. That matters because the preliminary summary shows not only that AI use is rising, but also that companies are trying to frame it with internal rules and review processes.

The preliminary summary mainly shows that AI use is not limited to one part of production. The cited applications range from asset generation to administrative support, suggesting that generative AI has spread across multiple workflows. The secondary reporting also names tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot, indicating that this is not just about specialized development software, but also about general-purpose AI services being used more broadly in office and production environments.

At the same time, important questions remain about how to interpret the numbers. The available information does not say how many companies or studios are behind the 1,349 responses, whether the respondents were mostly from large or small teams, or how the 51% comparison was calculated. It is also not explained exactly what the 8.6% figure for AI guidelines covers: it could refer to an internal policy, a usage protocol, an approval process, or some combination of those. Until the full report is published, it is best to treat the preliminary summary as a snapshot of a specific respondent group, not as a final measurement of the entire sector.

The combination of a high adoption rate, daily use by a majority of users, and a relatively small but visible share of companies with formal guidelines suggests that generative AI in Japanese game development is already beyond the experimental stage. The full report, due in December 2026, should show how CESA collected the data and which parts of the development process are changing most.

Related GAME-scanner articles

• Ubisoft ties new generative AI efforts to ‘Motherbrain’ in trademark reports

Sources

• Preliminary summary of CESA’s survey of Japanese game developers, as cited in secondary reporting.
• Kotaku: “Over 85 Percent Of Japanese Game Developers Are Using AI”
• Additional secondary reporting on the preliminary CESA figures and the AI uses mentioned.