Why No AI Games?

Despite expectations that AI would revolutionize gaming, five years into the AI era virtually no groundbreaking AI-based games have emerged beyond basic text-generation titles like AI Dungeon. While AI transforms game development behind the scenes, attempts at AI-centric gameplay have largely failed to capture audiences. The author identifies three key barriers: prohibitive costs of third-party AI services that make sustainable business models difficult, widespread player rejection of generative AI in games, and most fundamentally, that AI's unpredictable "soft logic" doesn't translate into the structured, deterministic rules that make games inherently fun.