Google Cloud Gaming Boss on AI, Stadia Learnings

About 90% of recreation builders have now included AI into the video-game manufacturing course of, in line with Google Cloud gaming chief Jack Buser, a reality the tech large exec stated “was not true a couple years ago.”

“This will come as no surprise to any of your listeners, but this has been the year of AI,” Buser stated throughout this week’s episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast. “Google, we were there at the very forefront of AI, specifically AI and games. If you look at a lot of the foundational research coming out of [Google’s] DeepMind, a lot of that stuff is related to games, believe it or not. So we’ve always been on the forefront of AI for games now, for many years. But this was the year when it became real.”

Generative AI has been the principle subject of dialog at each recreation developer convention for the previous few years, however till 2025, it was “a lot of vision,” Buser stated. “It was a lot of like, ‘These are some early examples of some proofs of concepts that we’ve seen at some of our customers. These are some early examples of where we think the industry might be going.’ But this year it became concrete.”

Before taking up his present function as director of recreation trade options at Google Cloud, Buser was a key member of the group that created Googles short-lived gaming streaming service Stadia, and previous to that, he spent a decade at Sony engaged on its PlayStation Now, PlayStation Home and PlayStation Plus merchandise. With the rise and fall of Stadia (which shuttered in January 2023) alone, Buser has seen his share of gaming trade shifts, and says all of the speak surrounding an AI revolution over the previous few years was, till now, simply speak. Heading into 2026, it’s all actuality and it’s solely rising.

“This has been really a year of watching all of this vision, all of this prediction that we had from a couple of years ago, actually become real and it’s been just tremendous to watch,” Buser stated. “Every so often in the games industry, you get this wave of technological breakthrough. We’re in the middle of one right now with AI, but we’ve seen this kind of thing before. Those of your listeners that have played games for a long time will remember when games went 3D, when they went from cartridge to CD-ROM. You had this huge transformation in the industry. After CD-ROMs, games just looked and played differently. Development teams looked and developed differently. The industry went through this radical shift in those days. We’re in the middle of one right now with AI. A lot of technology comes to the games industry, and I’ve been in it for nearly thirty years, so I’ve seen technology that hasn’t quite made it in the industry — but this was the year where AI really tipped the scale and it has arrived.”

“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast that includes conversations with trade leaders concerning the enterprise of media and leisure. (Please click on right here to subscribe to our free e-newsletter.) New episodes debut each Wednesday and may be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and extra.