AI in Gaming 2025: How Fortnite, Ubisoft, and Indie Studios Are Using Artificial Intelligence

AI in Gaming: From Fortnite’s Darth Vader Chatbot to Industry-Wide Transformation

An AI-powered Darth Vader wasn’t something Fortnite players expected in 2025, yet thousands rushed to interact with the character when the feature went live. Unlike traditional non-playable characters (NPCs) with scripted dialogue, this experimental version could tell jokes, respond to prompts, and even tease players about their in-game progress.

Although temporary, the experiment signaled a much larger truth — artificial intelligence is no longer just a side mission for the gaming industry.

How AI Is Reshaping Game Development

According to the Game Developer Conference’s 2025 “State of the Game Industry” report, 52% of developers say their studios already use generative AI. Major publishers like Ubisoft are leaning on AI to handle repetitive tasks, freeing artists and engineers to focus on core gameplay and character design.

One example is Ubisoft’s FaceShifter tool, which uses a proprietary dataset of 3D-scanned heads to generate models for background characters. Normally, a high-resolution head model could take up to a week to build, but with AI, artists can create believable versions in less than half a day.

Meanwhile, mobile gaming giant King (maker of Candy Crush Saga) employs AI as a “co-pilot” for its developers. Tools like OpenAI’s Codex CLI and Anthropic’s Claude Code test levels, fine-tune mechanics, and even streamline live updates across Candy Crush’s 19,000+ levels.

Indie Studios and AI-Native Games

Independent developers are also experimenting with AI-first game design. Jam and Tea Studios built Retail Mage, a job-simulation game powered by large language models (LLMs). Instead of coding everything manually, the team relied heavily on natural language prompts to generate dialogue, interactions, and in-game events.

The result? A fully functional title built in just five months, a timeline the studio calls “insanely fast.-

The Challenges: Cost and Responsibility

While AI promises faster workflows and richer gameplay, it comes with hurdles. Running advanced AI models requires costly cloud computing and GPUs, which is why few AI-native games exist so far. Jam and Tea nearly scrapped Retail Mage due to high operating costs.

There’s also the issue of responsible AI adoption. Developers emphasize that AI must enhance creativity without replacing human talent or generating misleading content. Ubisoft, for instance, is still testing AI-driven NPC dialogue (NEO NPC project) but won’t release it until it’s safe, fun, and purposeful.

Industry leaders agree on a few guiding principles:

Use authorized data sources

Maintain transparency

Keep human oversight central to development

As Aaron Farr, CTO of Jam and Tea Studios, explained: “We want to build the future that we want to live in. That means constant dialogue between creatives and technologists.”

Conclusion

From Darth Vader cracking jokes in Fortnite to AI tools powering blockbuster and indie games alike, artificial intelligence is fast becoming a cornerstone of modern gaming. The industry still faces challenges around cost, ethics, and creativity — but if done responsibly, AI could unlock a new era of interactive, player-driven experiences.