Japan Game Industry AI Application Trends Report: More than half of the manufacturers have started generating AI

The Association of Computer Entertainment Providers of Japan (CESA), the host of the Tokyo video fair, released a preview of the CESA Game Industry Report 2025 on 25 September. According to JANNET, the study revealed the current situation with regard to the use of AI and the Generating AI by indigenous Japanese games companies.

Based on feedback data collected from 54 Japanese game companies from June to July 2025, approximately 51 per cent of businesses have applied generating AI in game development. AI is most often used to generate visual resources and images such as role, followed by story text generation and programming support level three. According to reports, 32 per cent of game companies are developing self-study engines through AI. The sample interviewed covered CESA member enterprises ranging from giants such as Capukong and Sega to medium and independent size. A number of Japanese developers have made their generation AI applications public. A case in point is Professor Reyton and Level-5 of the Monster Watch series, which as early as 2023 detailed the use of Stable Diffusion for resource high-resolution, the generation of reference maps for fine artists and the production of game background components, as well as the use of Github Copilot to support programming.

Level-5 uses AI to generate background

The Karp Space Technology Department is also testing generation AI models such as Gemini Pro, Gemini Flash and Imogen, which are used mainly to fill creative ideas and prototypes for background assets needed in the game environment. Its technical director believes that this is expected to liberate the developer ‘ s time resources and thus enhance the quality of the game.

Cape SpaceApplication

Recently, Scai announced the establishment of an internal “generated AI committee” to systematize the integration of AI tools into the development of team workflows. The representative of the company mentioned that AI technology, such as image, action and code generation, was being used for internal monitoring links in game development. On the other hand, some developers are cautious about AI applications. In an interview last year, Juntaro Kogawa, Director-General of Nintendo, was asked about the position of the first party on the use of AI in the development of the game and pointed out that “there are problems with intellectual property rights”.