The JOGA 2026 annual report on Japan’s online gaming market states that every developer included in its survey is already using generative artificial intelligence. The research covered companies working on online games rather than studios devoted exclusively to single-player projects.
Generative AI remains deeply unpopular with many players who do not want the technology involved in game development, yet studios in Japan appear to have adopted a markedly different position. A newly reported survey found that every company producing online titles has incorporated tools such as Gemini and Claude into its regular operations. Japanese users are not entirely free of concerns about bringing generative AI into interactive entertainment, but their overall view of its practical applications clearly differs from the attitude commonly seen in Western markets.
The figures originate from JOGA 2026, an annual publication examining changes across Japan’s video game business. Although the complete report has not yet been made publicly available for download, Famitsu has seen part of its findings and reports that almost every Japanese developer working on online titles has already introduced generative AI somewhere within its production process. The survey did not cover studios that create only single-player games, so its scope should not be mistaken for the entire Japanese development industry, but the results still point to substantially broader acceptance of the technology across East Asia.
According to JOGA 2026, generative AI is used by 100% of the studios that responded to the survey. Its leading applications are not the creation of visual concepts or the construction of narratives, but the study of player preferences and the prediction of user behavior. Gemini is the most widely adopted model, appearing at 94% of the surveyed companies, followed by Claude at 84% and GitHub Copilot at 76%.
Players are nevertheless not entirely comfortable with the rapid spread of generative AI through Japanese development teams. JOGA also questioned users and found that their unease is concentrated around two principal risks: the arrival of “games that could infringe on copyrights” and the possibility that excessive dependence on the technology will result in “only similar games.” Comparable concerns have appeared in research conducted elsewhere in Asia, but those studies likewise suggest that AI-generated elements in games provoke less outright hostility there than they currently do in the West.
A Technology Viewed Through a Different Lens
Daniel Ahmad, a director at market intelligence company Niko Partners and a regular commentator on Asia’s gaming industry, has also argued that audiences across the region see generative AI differently. Writing on X, he questioned whether the JOGA 2026 figure should be taken completely literally, saying that the share of studios using such technology probably “doesn’t reach 100%.” Even so, he stressed that adoption is “extremely high in Japan, Korea, and China in general, especially given how integrated generative AI is into everyday tools. It’s being used in everything from workflow automation and data analysis to programming, among other things.”
Ahmad addressed the same subject last May, pointing to the volume of AI-related initiatives Tencent managed to reveal within a single week as evidence of how quickly Asian companies are expanding their use of the technology. Those announcements included AI assistants for Valorant Mobile and Path of Exile 2, a neural dynamic global illumination system designed for developers, an office-workflow agent called “WorkBuddy,” and AI-supported user-generated content tools for Peacekeeper Elite. An AI companion guiding players through a game would horrify a considerable portion of the Western audience, but consumers in Asia have generally shown greater willingness to accept such functions.
What accounts for that divide? Looking back at Tencent’s various plans, Ahmad described it as the product of several overlapping factors. “There is a high level of public confidence that the technology will be regulated and that safeguards will be implemented. A more positive view of technology as an enabler of daily life prevails, as well as a pragmatic approach that sees it as something worth learning and adopting. While ethical and social concerns persist (including the potential displacement of jobs), the discourse of technology leaders is much less negative than in the West.”
Together, these conditions have made businesses in Japan and across Asia more willing to incorporate generative AI into development. Western audiences continue to respond far more critically: Microsoft’s Muse technology for generating game experiences met with open rejection, while the dispute involving Larian Studios and Divinity grew large enough to force the developer to revise its plans. At the same time, Capcom, Sony, Krafton, and Square Enix have all identified AI tools as part of their ambitions for upcoming projects. Each company maintains that human creators will retain their artistic freedom, but thousands of players remain unconvinced by that assurance.
Source: 3DJuegos
