AI is making games faster and cheaper to build, giving developers more room to take creative risks, revive overlooked genres, and let players reshape the worlds they play in.

In this conversation, a16z's Jon Lai and Anish Acharya join Elena Burger to discuss why human taste still determines what makes a game fun, how modding created some of gaming's biggest franchises, the opportunity for new distribution platforms, and games that adapt to whatever players choose to do.

0:00 Intro
0:57 How AI can now build a game
6:21 What shorter dev cycles unlock
10:08 Can AI make a game fun?
12:27 When creating is the game
14:01 Building a Habbo Hotel record shop
16:16 His son rebuilt Ghost of Tsushima in Minecraft
17:54 Mods: where billion-dollar franchises come from
20:36 Decompiling and reviving dead games
22:45 The renaissance of niche genres
25:51 Managing AI agents like an RTS game
28:02 The business of AI games
33:53 What excites and scares studios
35:16 The never-ending game
37:56 The games they'd finally buQild

YouTube: http://youtu.be/HDRy6XmE2RQ

@VirtualElena @illscience @Tocelot