During GDC 2025, industry leaders gathered at the Game Technology Summit to discuss emerging trends and challenges in game and media development.The panel discussion, moderated by Jase Lindgren (Sr. Solutions Engineer and P4 Evangelist, Perforce), featured insights from Colin Walder (Engineering Director, CD PROJEKT RED), Joshua Orellana (Head of Animation and Games, Halon Entertainment), and Matt Ellis (Game Dev Advocate, JetBrains).
The discussion centered around three key themes transforming the industry: creative control with AI integration, building strong technical foundations, and breaking down barriers between different types of media and professional roles.
AI Integration: Human Creativity Enhanced, Not Replaced
The panel offered pragmatic perspectives on AI’s role in creative workflows. Rather than viewing AI as a replacement for artists, the discussion focused on how it can enhance human creativity by handling tedious tasks while artists focus on creative direction.
Joshua Orellana explained Halon’s approach to AI implementation by returning to traditional animation principles:
“What we found was some of the best ways to use AI was to go back to the original ways that people have done animation. Like back to the ideas of original Disney 2D layering of structure. Instead of asking your AI to make this whole shot, it’s about iteration on specific actions.”
Halon demonstrated this approach with “Jeff’s Wonderland,” a project that combined traditional concept art with AI-assisted techniques to create depth maps and environmental elements while maintaining artistic vision and quality.
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Matt Ellis from JetBrains reinforced this perspective:
“AI is a tool, not a replacement. You can use it for piecemeal tasks rather than having to do the whole thing. The human is in charge, using it as another tool in their tool belt.”
In the audio domain, Colin Walder highlighted how AI has enabled previously impossible tasks, such as previewing voice acting for scenes before recording sessions, significantly reducing iteration costs across multiple languages.
📘 Related Resource: AI in Filmmaking
Back to topNavigating Studio Expansion and Cross-Media Development
As studios expand geographically and work across multiple projects simultaneously, maintaining technological consistency becomes increasingly challenging. CD PROJEKT RED shared insights from opening their Boston studio, which created a deliberate separation that helped establish the studio’s distinct identity while still leveraging shared technology.
“We deliberately created this distance, deliberately created this decoupling, and are trying to work out how to do this sharing,” explained Walder. The company established a dedicated team for shared development services encompassing audio, localization, DevOps, and asset pipelines, with embedded specialists in each project team.
The summit also explored the complexities of cross-media development, with Halon Entertainment sharing their work on the Kerbal Space Program 2 trailer. Despite having to bridge between Unity (the game engine) and Unreal (their pipeline), the team prioritized preserving the original developers’ creative vision:
“We took the time to develop technology to import everything from Unity to Unreal. We didn’t want to interpret what they had—we wanted to actually use everything they created,” said Orellana.
Similarly, CD PROJEKT RED discussed how their collaboration with Studio Trigger on the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime series created a powerful synergy between the game and the show. By sharing sound assets and music, they created emotional connections that enhanced both mediums.
“We started seeing memes of people coming to the game and connecting their experience from Edgerunners,” noted Walder, describing how the song “I Really Want to Stay at Your House” became an emotional anchor between the two experiences.
📘 Related Resource: How CD PROJECKT Red Overcame Game Dev Challenges with P4
Back to topBuilding for the Future
The summit underscored how technology decisions must support both immediate production needs and long-term studio growth. Matt Ellis emphasized the importance of consistent tooling across different platforms:
“Having tooling that works in the same way across platforms is really important. We’ve got features which support Unity, and we’ve taken those ideas and applied them to Unreal as well.”
This consistency enables studios to maintain productivity regardless of the specific technology stack used for each project.
Back to topTech Trends for Tomorrow's Studios
Watch industry experts from Perforce and JetBrains discuss the key findings of our 2024 State of Game Technology report. Learn how to make informed decisions today that will benefit your studio's growth tomorrow.
Key Takeaways for Studios
- Approach AI as a creativity enhancer rather than a replacement for human artists.
- Build flexible pipelines that can move between different engines and media types.
- Invest in shared technology while allowing for project-specific innovation.
- Focus on creating emotional connections that transcend specific media formats.
As game development continues to evolve, studios that can navigate these technological and organizational challenges while maintaining creative vision will be positioned for success in an increasingly complex landscape.
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