Sony is quietly putting generative AI to work with Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. in a ”collaborative pilot initiative” aimed at video production, while also folding the technology deeper into PlayStation development tools and upscaling. The pitch is familiar: faster output, more productivity, less grunt work. The catch is just as familiar too – AI still struggles with consistency, controllability, and anything that looks remotely polished.
The company framed the effort during its latest earnings and strategy presentation, where President and CEO Hiroki Totoki called generative AI an ”amplifier of human imagination” and insisted it would not replace artists or creators. That line is doing a lot of work. Sony wants the efficiency gains without the backlash, and with video production under pressure across entertainment, the timing is hardly accidental.
Sony’s generative AI pitch to creators
Totoki said the Bandai Namco pilot has already delivered ”massive gains in speed and productivity per person.” He also pointed to a recurring problem for professionals: AI still lacks the consistency needed for production work. In other words, it can save time, but it can also wander off and make a mess, which is not exactly the same thing as a finished asset.
Bandai Namco’s gaming pedigree makes the partnership interesting even though Sony did not directly talk up games in this specific project. That omission feels deliberate, because generative AI in games is still a touchy subject, especially as publishers try to automate without sounding like they are automating the soul out of the work.
PlayStation studios are already using AI tools
Sony Interactive Entertainment chief Hideaki Nishino said AI can shorten development cycles, especially as first-party PlayStation games increasingly span multiple console generations. He also said it could ”enable more creators to enter the market,” which is the kind of upside executives like because it sounds expansive without promising any particular product.
- Naughty Dog and Sony’s San Diego Studio use a facial animation tool called Mockingbird.
- The system animates 3D models after performance capture.
- AI is also being used for hair animation, with models trained on videos of real hairstyles.
- Sony says the output can model ”hundreds of strands.”
Nishino was careful to stress that creative control stays with people, not models. ”The vision, the design, and the emotional impact of our games will always come from the talent of our studios and performers,” he said. That is the right answer on paper, and also the answer every company says right before it starts counting how many jobs, steps, or hours it can shave off the pipeline.
PS5 Pro upscaling and the shadow of PS6
AI is already visible in Sony’s hardware strategy through the PS5 Pro’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution upscaling tool, which has recently been improved and is now supported in a large number of third- and first-party games. That makes it easy to see where this is heading: PSSR is likely to be a major talking point for the PS6, assuming Sony keeps leaning on AI to do more of the visual heavy lifting.
But there is a warning label attached to that future. NVIDIA’s recent DLSS 5 reveal showed how quickly AI upscaling can become a point of backlash when the results get too ambitious, too synthetic, or too willing to hallucinate detail. Sony’s challenge is obvious: use AI to speed things up without turning its games and tools into machine-made soup.
PS5 sales are falling as Sony raises prices
The AI push landed alongside some less cheerful numbers. Sony said PS5 sales fell 46 percent in its fourth fiscal quarter compared with the same period last year, with 1.5 million consoles sold. The company is also dealing with rising costs and memory shortages, and it recently raised prices across its entire console lineup for the second time in 12 months.
That combination explains why Sony sounds so eager to frame AI as efficiency, not replacement. When hardware margins are under pressure and console sales are sliding, anything that promises faster production and lower friction gets an attentive audience. The open question is whether Sony can keep the creative messaging intact once the savings become the real headline.