{"id":72696,"date":"2026-09-17T18:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=72696"},"modified":"2026-09-17T18:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:53:10","slug":"background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Background and prop artists, assistant programmers cited as game industry jobs most impacted by generative AI in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hiraku Agent published a report<\/a> on September 16 examining how the adoption of AI technology has influenced the Japanese game industry when it comes to in-demand skills and job positions. The report is based on a 2026 survey of around 1,008 men and women working in recruitment roles in the domestic game industry, and it compares results to that of a similar survey conducted in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked what they believe game industry employers look for most when hiring, respondents in the 2026 survey most commonly cited \u201cprevious experience and skills\u201d at 32.9%, followed by \u201cability and willingness to adapt to and learn new technologies such as AI\u201d at 30.8%, and \u201cunderstanding of the company\u2019s own games\u201d at 27.9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These results differ from Hiraku Agent\u2019s 2024 survey, in which the top three responses were \u201cprevious experience and skills\u201d at 35.1%, followed by \u201cfavorite game genres\u201d at 26.3% and \u201ccommunication skills\u201d at 25.1%. The report surmises that a candidate\u2019s attitude and skills related to AI have become a significantly more important factor for companies. When asked how much candidates\u2019 AI skills, including experience using generative AI, are valued in recent game industry hiring, 34.1% of respondents said they are \u201chighly important,\u201d while 57.0% said they are \u201csomewhat important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image via Hiraku Agent<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of note, when it comes to game dev job positions that have seen a decrease in openings as a result of AI becoming widespread, recruiters cited \u201cart and graphics positions involving simpler tasks such as background and prop creation\u201d as the top answer (44.6%), followed by \u201cassistant-level programmers\u201d (37.2%) and \u201ctesting and debugging staff\u201d (28.8%). Hiraku Agent suggests that demand may be declining for work that has traditionally been handled by younger or less-experienced creators, including tasks which can be performed according to established rules (thus becoming AI-assisted or even automated). The agency believes that game dev candidates with less experience may increasingly be required to demonstrate specialized expertise or additional value beyond \u201cbasic\u201d production tasks, potentially making entry into the industry more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the flip side, the survey found that recruiters see a growing demand among employers for positions capable of making effective use of AI. The most commonly cited role was \u201chigh-level art directors capable of correcting and directing generative AI output,\u201d at 45.9%. This was followed by \u201cAI engineers and technical artists capable of integrating AI into development environments and pipelines\u201d at 44.1%, and \u201ccreators capable of using AI tools to rapidly produce deliverables\u201d at 34.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a related note, CESA, the organizer of Tokyo Game Show, recently published the 2026 results of its annual video game industry report, which found that over 85% of Japanese game developers use generative AI<\/a>, marking a significant increase from last year\u2019s 51%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: 89% of Japanese artists consider generative AI \u201ca serious threat\u201d to their livelihood, large-scale survey shows\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hiraku Agent suggests that demand may be declining for “basic” tasks and work that has traditionally been handled by younger or less-experienced creators,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":72704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[67,17],"class_list":["post-72696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-ai","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"yoast_head":"\nBackground and prop artists, assistant programmers cited as game industry jobs most impacted by generative AI in Japan - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Background and prop artists, assistant programmers cited as game industry jobs most impacted by generative AI in Japan - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hiraku Agent suggests that demand may be declining for "basic" tasks and work that has traditionally been handled by younger or less-experienced creators,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-17T09:53:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-17T09:53:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/game-industry-layoff-20241216-322105-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Background and prop artists, assistant programmers cited as game industry jobs most impacted by generative AI in Japan - AUTOMATON WEST","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Background and prop artists, assistant programmers cited as game industry jobs most impacted by generative AI in Japan - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Hiraku Agent suggests that demand may be declining for \"basic\" tasks and work that has traditionally been handled by younger or less-experienced creators,","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-09-17T09:53:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-17T09:53:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/game-industry-layoff-20241216-322105-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Background and prop artists, assistant programmers cited as game industry jobs most impacted by generative AI in Japan","datePublished":"2026-09-17T09:53:08+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-17T09:53:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/"},"wordCount":469,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/game-industry-layoff-20241216-322105-header.jpg","keywords":["AI","News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["Game Development","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/","name":"Background and prop artists, assistant programmers cited as game industry jobs most impacted by generative AI in Japan - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/game-industry-layoff-20241216-322105-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-17T09:53:08+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-17T09:53:10+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/game-industry-layoff-20241216-322105-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/game-industry-layoff-20241216-322105-header.jpg","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/background-and-prop-artists-assistant-programmers-cited-as-game-industry-jobs-most-impacted-by-generative-ai-in-japan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Background and prop artists, assistant programmers cited as game industry jobs most impacted by generative AI in Japan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72696"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72707,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72696\/revisions\/72707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}