Vivrato's VAIA report finds shallow AI use despite 94% studio adoption

Vivrato's VAIA Report 2026 surveyed 101 studio leaders across North America and Europe. Interviews ran from April to September 2026, covering nine production stages. 97% of studios have used AI in some form; 94% use it in production. 52% rate full pipeline integration at 3 or lower out of 10. European studios self-rate deeper integration, at 4.2 out of 10, than North American studios, at 3.5.

AI usage is highest in code and engineering, at 86% of studios.
General productivity tasks follow at 83%, concept and pre-production at 79%.
Design and prototyping use sits at 68%, art and animation at 60%.
Analytics, player data, and LiveOps and monetisation report the lowest adoption.

European studios rate pipeline depth at 4.2 out of 10.
North American studios rate the same measure at 3.5.
70% of European studios use AI in art, assets and animation.
Only 53% of North American studios report that same usage.

Studios cite player sentiment, staff pushback, budget and job-loss fears as barriers.
Frequent model changes add reticence, since tools shift before workflows stabilize.
Leadership push for AI adoption often meets resistance from team members.
Staff use generative AI for prototypes but rarely for final narrative content.

The report's findings run counter to what many executives say publicly.
Boyes said people speak candidly in private but go silent at conferences.
"I started to talk to people privately, and they started telling me how they're using tools and where they're using tools. And then I would go to these conferences, and no one would say anything." - Adam Boyes, Founder and CEO, Vivrato
That secrecy limits industry-wide sharing of what is actually working.

Vivrato's stance distills into four practices for scaling AI responsibly.
Be thoughtful about tool use, measure outcomes, keep humans in the loop.
Keep creativity at the forefront and discuss AI use openly with teams and players.
"I think those are the four things that we are concluding in the best practices." - Adam Boyes, Founder and CEO, Vivrato

For Investors & VC: Add workflow-level AI audits to diligence, discounting margin models built on executives' public efficiency claims.
For Service Vendors: Package model-agnostic integration and staff-training retainers for PC and console studios stalled at pilot stage.
For Publishers & Developers: Budget change-management and team buy-in programs before scaling AI into player-facing systems.