Bruce Straley is used to relying on traditional game design.
Bruce Straley, game director of The Last of Us and one of the former key developers at Naughty Dog, has spoken out against the use of generative artificial intelligence in the gaming industry. In an interview he gave on the eve of The Game Awards 2025, where the first trailer for his new studio Wildflower Interactive's debut game, Coven of the Chicken Foot, was presented, Straley called generative AI a "snake eating its own tail".
It can't grow and think on its own, it just consumes and tries to mimic what it has consumed. That's the most it's capable of right now.
The reason for the discussion was the technology underlying Coven of the Chicken Foot, an adventure game starring an elderly witch and a strange creature that helps her. This creature observes the player's actions, copies behavior, and learns. However, none of this was created using generative AI: it's all built on classic game design, based on Straley's experience at Naughty Dog.
![[STREAM] The Last Druids of Path of Exile 2 // INKult about OUR GAMES 2026. What to expect](https://media.ixbt.site/312x192/smart/ixbt-data/1109481/01KCS5ZSPPRFH5GJNN20T0T40V.jpg)
