OpenAI has held an event in South Korea for the first time to explore AI-based game production with local game developers.

OpenAI said on Aug. 31 it held “OpenAI Game Builders Seoul” at “Graphics by Daesin” in Seoul.

Attendees included Oliver Jay, managing director at OpenAI International, former XL Games chief executive Song Jae-kyung (송재경) and Com2uS Chairman Song Byung-joon (송병준). They gave presentations on their experience applying AI code-generation tools to game development and on changes in game production and services in the AI era.

Jay said, “This is a place where the key figures who built the history of Korean games and developers who will newly define the future of the AI era have gathered.” He added, “I hope Korean developers will actively use AI to take on challenges in new gameplay.”

Song Jae-kyung shared his experience developing a massively multiplayer online role-playing game using OpenAI’s coding agent, Codex. He said coding throughput increased by more than 8 times after applying Codex.

Song said the role of AI should not be limited to improving development efficiency. He outlined designing it as an agent that recognises situations inside a game and makes decisions and takes actions, so it interacts within the same rules as human users.

He said, “AI should not be seen only as a tool for making software faster, but should be designed as a ‘new participant’ that sees, judges and acts on its own inside a game.”

Song Byung-joon introduced his experience developing games for a black-and-white feature phone with 24 kilobytes of capacity, and said the essence of games remains the same even as technology environments change: providing fun to users.

Song said generative AI will lower barriers to entry for game production and also shorten the process of global launches and services.

He said, “As OpenAI opened the AI era, ‘the popularisation of creation’ has taken place where anyone can make a game if they have an idea.” He added, “The process of actually launching and servicing in the global market will also change to become faster and easier.”

Com2uS also introduced its backend platform, “Hive Axle,” reflecting its game service experience. At the venue, local game developers participated as mentors to share cases of applying AI code-generation tools and development know-how.

In the afternoon, 2 programmes will be run simultaneously for 40 teams selected in advance. In the “3-minute pitch,” participating teams will present AI-based game structures and features. In the “5-hour live hackathon,” teams will make games for 5 hours based on a topic revealed on site.

Song Bo-young, an adviser at OpenAI International and chief executive at Artu, said, “Starting with this first event held in Korea, we will expand Game Builders events so that AI technology can be applied to the game industry in other countries as well.”