Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: The IO Division has already integrated usable AI tech like speech recognition and synthesis into our games, and we are constantly monitoring the field for new applications. We aren't looking to force a radical 'AI-first' overhaul of our entire organization; instead, we approach it pragmatically—identifying what our devs actually need and building or providing tools to solve those specific pain points.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: It's quite broad. We categorize our AI services into two buckets: enterprise-level services (and APIs) provided by the company, and internal services developed in-house by our division.

We use enterprise tools for groupware-linked searches, drafting documents, research, and programming assistance. Our custom-built services focus on things like automated translation, meeting minutes, and voice synthesis—things the dev team consistently asks for.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: I empathize with the players' concerns, and yes, I certainly believe it affects content reception. I’d break this down into two points.

First, there is the 'AI slop' problem—the decline in quality caused by reckless AI usage. To use the snack analogy again, if the packaging looks great but the actual content is replaced by nitrogen, consumers are naturally going to push back.

Second, subculture fans have high expectations for 'creative sincerity.' Current transformer and diffusion-based models are merely simulators, not entities with intent or personality. If you rely entirely on them to churn out assets with a single click, you have to ask: 'Can there really be any creative sincerity in that?'

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: It depends on how you define the 'near future,' but looking at the current trajectory, I do expect AI to eventually replicate everything humans can do. Many experts suggest we might hit that point within 5 to 10 years. Whether AI can ever possess something akin to a personality or sincerity is a deep, existential question about what it means to be human, which is probably beyond our scope here.

Let's stick to a one-year outlook. By that standard, my answer is 'no.' AI still fails to generate the level of quality required for key assets in a professional development environment. I don't expect it to meet those expectations by next year. However, it is undeniably becoming a more versatile tool.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: If we set conservative standards based on domestic and international precedents, I think it's fair to use it for research and brainstorming. However, as I mentioned, it's still too early and risky to introduce AI into the production of creative assets. We are very concerned about whether players would accept it, so prior disclosure is essential. Establishing concrete guidelines will require building a real consensus between the industry and the players.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: Modern games are complex systems that must organically integrate narrative, audiovisuals, and IT. Yet, knowledge on how to build or assemble these components—or how to troubleshoot them—is often not passed down systematically. The biggest advantage of AI is its ability to refine and distill existing best practices and guidelines. It has made planning and retrospection significantly faster and more accurate.

Also, communication costs balloon as dev teams grow. Documenting, updating, and sharing work history is vital but painful. AI contributes massively to streamlining these tasks.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: Technically, we face a lack of continuous learning, constraints on context input, performance limits in modalities other than text (like image, audio, video), and the astronomical costs of training and usage.

Creatively, it still lacks the ability to propose something truly novel—that 'something new that never existed before'—that humans prefer. Current generative AI research prioritizes producing results that align with verifiable truths and public consensus.

Furthermore, it can answer like an expert in one area and then give nonsensical responses in common-sense fields, or hallucinate. It lacks the consistency of a human.

Therefore, instead of a blanket 'let's use AI for everything!' approach, we need to apply it locally and specifically.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: I can see the path for the next year, and I expect one or two of the limitations mentioned earlier to be resolved or improved.

Looking at 3 years or more, we need a different perspective. Not only is AI being developed that can generate entire gameplay environments—like Google DeepMind's Genie 3—but we have entered an era where a solo developer can create a playable game just by prompting an AI model.

Based on this, I expect the scope for solo developers to widen and the quality to skyrocket. Google DeepMind has already teased early-stage games created this way; I feel both excitement and anxiety about what we might see in three years.

I expect a future where major games, armed with famous IP and high-quality production, coexist at one extreme with highly personalized, novel indie games at the other.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: If AI development continues at this pace, it won't be just a niche industry problem; it will become a broader issue regarding jobs and social systems for all of us in the medium to long term.

However, for now, the Korean game industry is actually suffering from a talent shortage. It’s hard to find the right people for each position, and it takes time. The IO Division is not considering downsizing recruitment due to AI adoption.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: I agree that the work environment and the nature of the jobs themselves will change.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: The ability to define a task from scratch and communicate with colleagues will become more critical than the ability to execute a well-defined task precisely. While maintaining depth in one's specialization, the role of a 'coordinator' or 'director' who can leverage AI tools to cover adjacent fields will become paramount.

While this change offers individual growth opportunities, it can also bring psychological pressure to keep pace with the rapid speed of evolution. Organizations must focus on alleviating the burden of adaptation and bridging the educational gap for their members.

Nexon Games Division Director Kim Yong-ha: One of the core missions of the IO Division is to 'realize an otherworldly experience you want to step into.' I hope new technologies like AI can contribute to bringing that ideal to life more faithfully.