Will AI replace Video Game Designers?
AI reaches most of this job’s work.
58/100
Very high exposure
More exposed to AI than 90% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 10% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 100% of the work
What the job involves
Design core features of video games. Specify innovative game and role-play mechanics, story lines, and character biographies. Create and maintain design documentation. Guide and collaborate with production staff to produce games as designed.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(3)
- Collaborate with artists to achieve appropriate visual style.
- Consult with multiple stakeholders to define requirements and implement online features.
- Determine supplementary virtual features, such as currency, item catalog, menu design, and audio direction.
Within reach(21)
- Balance and adjust gameplay experiences to ensure the critical and commercial success of the product.
- Devise missions, challenges, or puzzles to be encountered in game play.
- Create core game features, including storylines, role-play mechanics, and character biographies for a new video game or game franchise.
- Solicit, obtain, and integrate feedback from design and technical staff into original game design.
- Conduct regular design reviews throughout the game development process.
and 16 more
Also called
Game Designer · Design Director · Designer · Environmental Artist · Game Design Consultant · Gamemaster · Level Designer · World Designer
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics