EA Partners With Stable Diffusion Firm Stability AI, What This Means For Future Games

A little over a year after EA gave a presentation discussing the ways it was planning the use of AI in game development, the company has announced a partnership that will help deeply integrate the technology. EA is teaming up with Stability AI, makers of the Stable Diffusion image model, to “reimagine how content is built.”

EA has already identified where it wants to deploy AI first. The company hopes to make the creation of Physically Based Rendering (PBR) materials more efficient through new workflows. It also plans on enhancing its HeadStart system, which uses machine learning to turn a photo of someone into an in-game likeness, and one where an entire 3D space can be created from a photo.

Many developers and artists will likely be concerned to see a major publisher dive in head first into generative AI, but the company is adamant about it being a supplemental tool. Steve Kestell, Head of Technical Art for EA SPORTS views it as a “smarter paintbrush,” adding that “we are giving our creatives the tools to express what they want.”


In theory, providing developers with better tooling should increase their productivity and hopefully lead to better games. It might also make EA more comfortable with taking chances on niche projects that aren’t the usual annual sports release the publisher is known for.

However, EA was recently purchased by a group of investors for a hefty $55 billion. These investors will likely want to see a return on that investment sooner rather than later, which may make laying off parts of its workforce, with the hopes that AI can fill the gaps, an option for cutting costs.

Time will tell how this endeavor works out for EA, but hopefully it’s one in which the company, its developers and players all win with better games.