🔥🔥🔥 GameOver: Unity Game Dev, AI Makes Mid Games, UVW Too Late

Happy Friday!

Joseph Kim

Apr 04, 2025

This week’s hot takes:

Unity: They’re Not Stealing Your Users—You Handed Them the Keys
AI Dev Tools? Congrats, You Just Automated Mid
UVW’s Union Dream is Too Late; Western Devs Are Already Corpses

👇👇👇

1. Unity: They’re Not Stealing Your Users—You Handed Them the Keys

You didn’t lose your players. You gave them away—one SDK, one A/B test, one Unity plug-in at a time.
Now Unity’s making its own games. And with that move, it’s not just your engine provider—it’s your competitor.
We’ve seen this before. AppLovin built an empire using developer data—then turned around and launched games that directly competed with the people they were “helping.” They knew what worked because you showed them.
Unity’s sitting on even more powerful data: engine-level telemetry from thousands of games. If they use it to optimize their own titles? That’s not innovation. That’s betrayal-as-a-service.
The real con? You didn’t just let it happen—you signed the contract, paid the license fee, and helped train the machine that will eventually outplay you.

2. AI Dev Tools? Congrats, You Just Automated Mid

I’m not anti-AI. I’m anti-boring—and generative AI in game dev is cranking out the same cookie-cutter sludge, just faster and cheaper.
Studios are acting like they’ve cracked the code because they plugged ChatGPT into Unity and laid off their writers. Now we’re drowning in NPCs named “Generic Knight 4,” speaking in mid-sentence tweets written by bots. Everything feels templated. Everything feels empty.
AI didn’t elevate the craft. It lowered the floor—and called it “efficiency.” We didn’t disrupt development—we just made it easier to mass-produce mediocrity.
So yeah, congrats on your AI pipeline. You didn’t innovate. You just sped up the slide into bland.

3. UVW’s Union Dream is Too Late; Western Devs Are Already Corpses

The United Videogame Workers launched at GDC 2025, promising “better games” and “quality of life” after 25,000 layoffs in two years. Noble, but I’ve seen this movie—crunch broke us, execs cashed out, and now China’s eating our lunch with Black Myth: Wukong. Unions might’ve saved us in 2010; now it’s just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Devs are meat in a grinder—UVW’s a Band-Aid on a corpse, and Tencent’s the undertaker.

* Pseudonyms in italics, no underline.

JK: Hey, folks, I know some of you are upset at the takes. Feel free to leave comments. I can’t actually send back some of your comments to the authors if you submit it as a Hot Take (using the button below). Lol. If you comment, I think there’s a good chance they’ll see it.

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Top 5 Gaming News

Helldivers 2 CEO Criticizes Industry Layoffs, Calls for Executive Accountability (GamesRadar) - Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios (Helldivers 2), criticized gaming industry layoffs at GDC 2025, highlighting a lack of executive accountability. He noted executives laid off one-third of their companies due to "stupid decisions," such as pushing failed live service games for unsustainable growth. Pilestedt called for better leadership to prevent mass layoffs, impacting developer morale and industry stability.
Nintendo Switch 2 Unveiled with June Launch Date (CNET) - Nintendo revealed the Switch 2 on April 2, 2025, during a Nintendo Direct, announcing a June 5 release date and a $450 price tag. The console features a 7.9-inch 1080p LCD with a 120Hz refresh rate, 4K support when docked, and a launch lineup highlighted by Mario Kart World. Upgraded "Switch 2 Edition" games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild will offer enhanced features, impacting developers and exciting players with new hardware capabilities.
AppLovin Submits Bid for TikTok’s Non-China Assets (The Economic Times) – AppLovin bid for TikTok’s non-China assets on April 3, 2025, facing Amazon and others, ahead of a U.S. deadline. The move, tied to ByteDance’s ownership, aims to boost AppLovin’s digital reach but hinges on regulatory approval.
Roblox Expands Video Ads with Google Partnership (Roblox Newsroom) – On April 1, 2025, Roblox announced a partnership with Google to scale Rewarded Video ads, letting players earn in-game perks by watching 30-second ads. Integrated with Google Ad Manager, this targets Roblox’s 85.3 million daily users, boosting creator earnings and offering brands high ad completion rates (over 80%). This enhances developer monetization and reshapes brand engagement in gaming.
Eggy Party’s UGC Success Lies in Recommendation System (Game Developer) – Eggy Party’s UGC success, reported on March 31, 2025, stems from iterative recommendation systems, which enhance player engagement. This development offers developers insights into community-driven features.

Top 5 AI x Gaming News

AI-Native Games: Revolution or Evolution? (GameMakers) – A deep dive into what defines “AI-native games,” examining whether they represent a true creative revolution or a continuation of existing trends and highlighting emerging use cases like AI NPCs, procedural generation, and new player-agent interactions.
Reflecting on AI's Impact in the 2024 Gaming Industry (AI and Games) – An analysis of how artificial intelligence influenced the gaming industry in 2024, highlighting key developments and future directions.
AI's Transformative Role in Game Development (Side-Line) – An exploration of how AI revolutionizes game development, from procedural content generation to creating more responsive and intelligent NPCs.
AI Re-Engages Dormant Players in Games (Forbes) - A March 20, 2025, article details AI’s role in re-engaging lapsed players via tailored strategies, impacting developer retention efforts. It engages industry pros tackling churn.
Google Highlights 'Living Games' Powered by Generative AI (Google Blog) – Google discusses the concept of 'living games' that adapt and evolve using generative AI, offering personalized and dynamic gaming experiences.