[Weekend Gaming] 77% of Game Companies Use Generative AI... "AI Skills" Top Hiring Priority Too

AI adoption rate highest among content sectors
Employment shrinks as work efficiency improves
AI proficiency assessments spread in hiring

The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is spreading across the gaming industry, changing not only how games are made but also the skills companies seek in their employees.

AI. Reuters and Yonhap News

According to the Korea Creative Content Agency's "2026 Q2 Content Industry Trends Analysis Report," 77.5% of the 120 game companies surveyed said they use generative AI. This was far above the average adoption rate of 45.6% across the content industry and the highest among the 11 content sectors surveyed, including publishing (37.6%), comics (16.8%), and animation (68.9%).

Game companies using generative AI reported positive effects on content quality and work efficiency. In particular, they said the expressiveness and polish of their content had improved and that they had access to a wider range of ideas and source material. They also said they had experienced efficiency gains, with working hours reduced by 30% to 50%.

The spread of AI technology, however, is changing the job market in the gaming industry. As of the second quarter of 2026, the industry employed 86,885 people, down 0.9% from the same period a year earlier. Employment had exceeded 90,000 in the fourth quarter of 2025, but then declined for two consecutive quarters. As AI takes over simple, repetitive tasks, overall employment is contracting, while companies are raising their expectations for AI-native talent who can skillfully use AI from the planning stage onward.

In fact, recent entry-level hiring in the gaming industry has seen "AI skills assessments" take the place of "coding tests." In an announcement for its NEXtorial internship program, which offers a path to full-time employment in the second half of 2026, Nexon said in August that it would eliminate the traditional coding test, previously a required step for game programmer applicants. The aim is to assess candidates' ability to solve and verify problems using the company's generative AI tools, rather than simply how quickly they can write code.

Krafton also said it plans to recruit AI-native talent who can use AI to develop new solutions, regardless of job category, for its 2027 internship program linked to full-time hiring. It will assess candidates' potential to structure and solve problems using its internally developed AI skills assessment solution, "Copa Probe."

Game companies' push to secure AI-native talent is driven in part by the cost and demands of retraining existing employees. According to the report, 74.1% of the 27 game companies that do not use generative AI cited implementation costs as an obstacle. A lack of skills among existing employees was also a factor, according to 48.1% of respondents. Companies have therefore concluded that hiring people who already know how to use AI is more efficient than retraining their existing workforce to become AI-native.

An industry official said, "Generative AI has become an essential tool for survival, rather than an option, in development work. The preference for talent who can direct AI as a creative tool, rather than simply write code, will become even more pronounced."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.