Xbox Workers Say Generative AI Is Adding Stress and Extra Work

Xbox workers are raising new concerns about how generative AI is being used to make games. Some of these worries may sound familiar, but they are still worth paying attention to. A new survey from the Communications Workers of America found that many workers worry AI could replace parts of their jobs, add stress, and create more work instead of making game development easier. The survey included 759 video game workers. An early report looked closely at 209 workers from Microsoft Xbox studios and 155 workers from other studios. AI is probably not going away, but the bigger question is whether studios are using it in ways that actually help the people making games.

Workers are worried about losing parts of their jobs

The CWA survey says 40% of workers were extremely concerned and another 20% were moderately concerned that AI could replace some or all parts of their jobs. Workers at Microsoft studios were also more likely to think job cuts tied to AI tools or outside workers could happen within the next two years.

It is easy to understand why workers would be nervous, especially after years of layoffs across the gaming industry. At the same time, workers expecting AI-related job cuts does not prove that AI will directly replace those jobs. More than 54% of Microsoft studio workers said layoffs tied to AI tools or outside workers were somewhat or very likely. Less than 35% of workers at other studios said the same.

These worries are also coming while Xbox is going through more company changes. Microsoft said in July that it was cutting around 4,800 jobs across the company, with many changes affecting its Commercial and Xbox teams. Microsoft has said those job cuts were not simply caused by AI replacing workers. Still, the timing makes it easy to understand why employees are being careful about where AI could lead.

Eventide Gaming previously covered how the Xbox restructure could shape future games and studios, and this survey adds another part to that story.

AI is not always making game development easier

Among workers who said they use generative AI, 59% agreed that the tools create extra work because mistakes need to be fixed. Half said AI makes their work more stressful, while 56% said they did not think it improves the quality of games.

That may be the most interesting part of the survey. Generative AI can save time when it is used in the right way, but simply adding an AI tool does not mean work will become faster or better. If developers spend just as much time checking, fixing, or rebuilding AI-made work, the time savings start to look much less useful.

Still, this survey is based on workers sharing their own experiences. It is not a test that measures how productive AI is. It tells us how these workers feel about the tools they are using, but it does not mean every studio or every AI tool will have the same results.

Microsoft workers said they had less say in how AI is used

Only 27% of Microsoft studio workers said they had a lot of say in how generative AI tools were used in their jobs. At studios outside Microsoft, that number was 42%.

That difference may explain some of the frustration. Workers may be more open to new technology when they get a say in how it is used. It can be much harder to accept when a tool is pushed into their work, even if it does not actually make the job easier.

CWA is using the survey while working on first contracts for Xbox workers it represents. The union says workers want a bigger say in deciding where AI should be used and how it could affect creative jobs.

Workers are worried about more than layoffs

More than 70% of workers said they were extremely concerned about AI using other people’s creative work and about its effect on the environment. Those issues are part of a much bigger debate around generative AI, but they show that workers are thinking about more than whether AI can make something faster.

Game studios are still trying to figure out where generative AI fits. It could make repeated tasks easier, speed up some parts of game development, or give developers useful new tools. It could also create more problems if studios use it poorly.

Gamers will care most about what happens to the games

For most gamers, the debate will probably come down to the final result. If AI helps studios make better games, handle boring repeated tasks, and gives creative teams more time for important work, players may have little reason to complain. If it leads to AI SLOP, rushed buggy content, fewer developer jobs, or more mistakes that people have to fix in a patch, the criticism becomes much easier to understand.

AI is a tool, and what matters most is how people choose to use it. Heck, even this post was written with help from AI.

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That does not mean the human side of things disappears. It is also why I can understand where these Xbox workers are coming from. A tool that is supposed to make a job easier can become annoying very quickly if it is used in the wrong parts of the job or creates more work than it saves.

The CWA survey does not prove that generative AI will make games worse or replace large numbers of Xbox workers. What it does show is that many people using these tools are still not convinced that the good parts are worth the problems right now. Microsoft and other studios will have to show that AI can actually help through the way they use it, not just by saying it will make game development faster.