Steve Karolewics
@skarolewics.bsky.social
Principal Rendering Engineer on Star Wars Jedi at Respawn Entertainment. Formerly @ Monolith, Amazon Games, Microsoft. Contributor to RenderDoc. Opinions are my own.
http://stevekarolewics.com
http://stevekarolewics.com
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
#Dispatch devs have no interest in using AI for game development 🎮
"AI feels like a production solution, not a creative one. Maybe it's a creative one if you aren't creative"
"Whatever we're building, it has to connect. It's got to be made by people. It's got to connect to people"
(via GIBiz)
"AI feels like a production solution, not a creative one. Maybe it's a creative one if you aren't creative"
"Whatever we're building, it has to connect. It's got to be made by people. It's got to connect to people"
(via GIBiz)
November 18, 2025 at 12:37 AM
#Dispatch devs have no interest in using AI for game development 🎮
"AI feels like a production solution, not a creative one. Maybe it's a creative one if you aren't creative"
"Whatever we're building, it has to connect. It's got to be made by people. It's got to connect to people"
(via GIBiz)
"AI feels like a production solution, not a creative one. Maybe it's a creative one if you aren't creative"
"Whatever we're building, it has to connect. It's got to be made by people. It's got to connect to people"
(via GIBiz)
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
finding out your game got nominated by The Game Awards in the group chat with other folks who got laid off is… just so painfully 2025
November 17, 2025 at 7:41 PM
finding out your game got nominated by The Game Awards in the group chat with other folks who got laid off is… just so painfully 2025
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
In gamedev, if you're using a placeholder asset, best practices involve marking it as placeholder so garishly and offensively clearly PLACEHOLDER that you can't possibly miss it. Also flagging that asset in the dev process so it can be identified quickly before the final build.
November 17, 2025 at 5:52 PM
In gamedev, if you're using a placeholder asset, best practices involve marking it as placeholder so garishly and offensively clearly PLACEHOLDER that you can't possibly miss it. Also flagging that asset in the dev process so it can be identified quickly before the final build.
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
It really needs to be pointed out how every one of these embarrassing statements is made by a c-suite executive and not an artist or even art department lead
"Surely there's a middle ground here?" The CEO of Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead says people "jump to extreme takes" when debating generative AI, and that there needs to be more nuance in the discussion.
www.videogameschronicle.com/news/surely-...
www.videogameschronicle.com/news/surely-...
‘Surely there’s a middle ground here?’ Helldivers studio CEO says people ‘jump to extreme takes’ when debating GenAI | VGC
“This is such a trigger point for big parts of the games industry today”…
www.videogameschronicle.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:05 PM
It really needs to be pointed out how every one of these embarrassing statements is made by a c-suite executive and not an artist or even art department lead
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
Insulting to the players, insulting to the IP, insulting to the medium, the developers. And the craft itself. Fuck you executives who pushed this garbage.
frvr.com/blog/call-of...
frvr.com/blog/call-of...
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is littered with AI art slop, because your $70 means nothing anymore
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is littered with AI generated artwork which makes the $70 feel like a complete rip-off.
frvr.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Insulting to the players, insulting to the IP, insulting to the medium, the developers. And the craft itself. Fuck you executives who pushed this garbage.
frvr.com/blog/call-of...
frvr.com/blog/call-of...
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
We don’t use generative AI at Strange Scaffold and I can confirm that a *lot* of other studios are not—whether indie or AAA.
Get outta here with this normalization bullshit.
Get outta here with this normalization bullshit.
“It’s important to assume every game company is now using AI.” Nexon CEO comments on role of human creativity as AI tools become the norm
automaton-media.com/en/news/its-...
automaton-media.com/en/news/its-...
“It’s important to assume every game company is now using AI.” Nexon CEO comments on role of human creativity as AI tools become the norm - AUTOMATON WEST
In an interview following the launch of ARC Raiders, the CEO of Embark Studios' parent company Nexon shares his views on AI.
automaton-media.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:25 AM
We don’t use generative AI at Strange Scaffold and I can confirm that a *lot* of other studios are not—whether indie or AAA.
Get outta here with this normalization bullshit.
Get outta here with this normalization bullshit.
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
Announcing: New @steampowered.com Hardware, coming in 2026:
Steam Controller
Steam Machine
Steam Frame.
Watch our jazzy announcement video and wishlist now: steampowered.com/hardware
Steam Controller
Steam Machine
Steam Frame.
Watch our jazzy announcement video and wishlist now: steampowered.com/hardware
Steam Hardware
The Steam Hardware family officially expands in early 2026.
steampowered.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Announcing: New @steampowered.com Hardware, coming in 2026:
Steam Controller
Steam Machine
Steam Frame.
Watch our jazzy announcement video and wishlist now: steampowered.com/hardware
Steam Controller
Steam Machine
Steam Frame.
Watch our jazzy announcement video and wishlist now: steampowered.com/hardware
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
We just released "Unreal Materials: New Features & Productivity Enhancements", where my coworker @shedoesartstuff.bsky.social shows off a bunch of quality-of-life improvements to the Material Editor in UE in 5.6/5.7, alongside new and upcoming features. #uetips
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYmd...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYmd...
Unreal Materials: New Features & Productivity Enhancements | Unreal Fest Stockholm 2025
YouTube video by Unreal Engine
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:59 AM
We just released "Unreal Materials: New Features & Productivity Enhancements", where my coworker @shedoesartstuff.bsky.social shows off a bunch of quality-of-life improvements to the Material Editor in UE in 5.6/5.7, alongside new and upcoming features. #uetips
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYmd...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYmd...
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
NEW: Big layoffs at Final Fantasy maker Square Enix, which is shrinking its US and UK offices as it looks to cut costs and consolidate publishing operations in Japan. Exact number isn't clear but the company says it will save $19.6 million due to the cuts www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Square Enix Lays Off Staff In Global Restructuring
Japanese video-game company aims to save $19.6 million annually
www.bloomberg.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:56 PM
NEW: Big layoffs at Final Fantasy maker Square Enix, which is shrinking its US and UK offices as it looks to cut costs and consolidate publishing operations in Japan. Exact number isn't clear but the company says it will save $19.6 million due to the cuts www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
BREAKING: Rockstar has delayed Grand Theft Auto VI again, pushing the highly anticipated game from May to November 19, 2026. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ Is Postponed Again — to November 2026
The release date for the game had previously slipped to May 2026 from fall 2025
www.bloomberg.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:05 PM
BREAKING: Rockstar has delayed Grand Theft Auto VI again, pushing the highly anticipated game from May to November 19, 2026. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
www.videogameschronicle.com/news/square-...
I imagined trying to get through bug reports written by an LLM and immediately got an honest to god headache. What do you mean I can’t even go back to the person who wrote it and ask for more details because there isn’t one, but it can still make shit up?
I imagined trying to get through bug reports written by an LLM and immediately got an honest to god headache. What do you mean I can’t even go back to the person who wrote it and ask for more details because there isn’t one, but it can still make shit up?
Square Enix says it wants generative AI to be doing 70% of its QA and debugging by the end of 2027 | VGC
The publisher is researching “Game QA Automation Technology” with the University of Tokyo…
www.videogameschronicle.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:58 PM
www.videogameschronicle.com/news/square-...
I imagined trying to get through bug reports written by an LLM and immediately got an honest to god headache. What do you mean I can’t even go back to the person who wrote it and ask for more details because there isn’t one, but it can still make shit up?
I imagined trying to get through bug reports written by an LLM and immediately got an honest to god headache. What do you mean I can’t even go back to the person who wrote it and ask for more details because there isn’t one, but it can still make shit up?
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
Everything about making video games is harder than you think.
November 6, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Everything about making video games is harder than you think.
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
I interviewed with 20 studios in 2023 before finally finding a home at CDPR. Studios closed, projects got canceled, devs got laid off. As of today, only 1 of those roles remains. It's a wild time in the games industry
November 3, 2025 at 9:31 PM
I interviewed with 20 studios in 2023 before finally finding a home at CDPR. Studios closed, projects got canceled, devs got laid off. As of today, only 1 of those roles remains. It's a wild time in the games industry
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
Take-Two's CEO has spoken out on AI, saying "genius is the domain of human beings", and raising copyright and creativity concerns.
"There is no creativity that can exist by definition in any AI model, because it is data-driven."
(Read more: Eurogamer)
"There is no creativity that can exist by definition in any AI model, because it is data-driven."
(Read more: Eurogamer)
October 30, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Take-Two's CEO has spoken out on AI, saying "genius is the domain of human beings", and raising copyright and creativity concerns.
"There is no creativity that can exist by definition in any AI model, because it is data-driven."
(Read more: Eurogamer)
"There is no creativity that can exist by definition in any AI model, because it is data-driven."
(Read more: Eurogamer)
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
The rumor I had always heard was that they hired a bunch of game developers and didn’t listen to them, which seems to be an ongoing trend.
Maybe someone should try making video games and trusting the people who know how to do it.
Maybe someone should try making video games and trusting the people who know how to do it.
I legitimately didn't know they were competing with Steam and it's crazy to me that they burnt so much money on what sounds like something with very little (or wildly misguided) market research.
October 29, 2025 at 3:08 AM
The rumor I had always heard was that they hired a bunch of game developers and didn’t listen to them, which seems to be an ongoing trend.
Maybe someone should try making video games and trusting the people who know how to do it.
Maybe someone should try making video games and trusting the people who know how to do it.
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
🎄 Introducing our paper A Generalizable Light Transport 3D Embedding for Global Illumination lnkd.in/gQUMSAyV .
🙈 Just as Transformers learn long-range relationships between words or pixels, our new paper shows they can also learn how light interacts and bounces around a 3D scene.
🙈 Just as Transformers learn long-range relationships between words or pixels, our new paper shows they can also learn how light interacts and bounces around a 3D scene.
October 23, 2025 at 3:27 AM
🎄 Introducing our paper A Generalizable Light Transport 3D Embedding for Global Illumination lnkd.in/gQUMSAyV .
🙈 Just as Transformers learn long-range relationships between words or pixels, our new paper shows they can also learn how light interacts and bounces around a 3D scene.
🙈 Just as Transformers learn long-range relationships between words or pixels, our new paper shows they can also learn how light interacts and bounces around a 3D scene.
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
I am a business executive. I stand here and and say okay everyone make more money now regardless of what is actually possible in reality, and then they pay me 100 million dollars a year.
SCOOP: For the last two years, Microsoft has pushed Xbox to hit profit margins of 30%, an ambitious target that's far higher than the industry average.
This chase for profit has led Xbox to raise prices, cut thousands of jobs, and rethink everything.
Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
This chase for profit has led Xbox to raise prices, cut thousands of jobs, and rethink everything.
Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Microsoft Pushes Xbox Division to Hit Higher Profit Margins
Management’s goal of 30% profit margins for gaming has led to job losses, canceled projects
www.bloomberg.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:26 PM
I am a business executive. I stand here and and say okay everyone make more money now regardless of what is actually possible in reality, and then they pay me 100 million dollars a year.
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
Polar UVs are timeless way to achieve more with your tiling textures! Here is how to implement the cartesian to polar custom function material to achieve this effect #realtimeVFX #UnrealEngine #gamedev #VFX #UE5
October 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Polar UVs are timeless way to achieve more with your tiling textures! Here is how to implement the cartesian to polar custom function material to achieve this effect #realtimeVFX #UnrealEngine #gamedev #VFX #UE5
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 412 - October 12th, 2025 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
October 15, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 412 - October 12th, 2025 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
studio execs & major outlets claim AI is "inevitable" and poised to take over Hollywood. the reality is much different. i spoke with filmmakers, producers, and editors about how AI is actually showing up in productions – and what it still can't do:
Hollywood Has a Major AI Hype Problem
Studio execs and major media outlets claim that AI is "inevitable" and poised to take over film and TV. The reality is much different.
movieweb.com
October 14, 2025 at 4:17 PM
studio execs & major outlets claim AI is "inevitable" and poised to take over Hollywood. the reality is much different. i spoke with filmmakers, producers, and editors about how AI is actually showing up in productions – and what it still can't do:
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
it's kinda weird that all the software i am expected to use for work are all written by distributed teams, go, python, postgres, linux, chrome, k8s etc
and despite being told "the best teams work in an office together" i don't know of any software i use that's actually written that way
and despite being told "the best teams work in an office together" i don't know of any software i use that's actually written that way
October 13, 2025 at 5:00 PM
it's kinda weird that all the software i am expected to use for work are all written by distributed teams, go, python, postgres, linux, chrome, k8s etc
and despite being told "the best teams work in an office together" i don't know of any software i use that's actually written that way
and despite being told "the best teams work in an office together" i don't know of any software i use that's actually written that way
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
I’m quite seriously concerned about the economic collapse that’ll come with the AI bubble popping, and I feel like this really illustrates why: so many headlines touting huge numbers and insane productivity for services there is absolutely no market for. Who wants 8,000 extra books a year?
Why? Who is this meant to be good for? Nobody wants your shit AI books, never mind 8,000 in a year. Just a terrible idea and a horrible road the publishing industry is heading down.
October 12, 2025 at 11:51 PM
I’m quite seriously concerned about the economic collapse that’ll come with the AI bubble popping, and I feel like this really illustrates why: so many headlines touting huge numbers and insane productivity for services there is absolutely no market for. Who wants 8,000 extra books a year?
Reposted by Steve Karolewics
Continuing on the topic of GPU utilisation and performance, as a practical example, I looked a bit deeper into the impact of vertex shader exports on the cost of a drawcall and wrote another blog post with some observations interplayoflight.wordpress.com/2025/09/21/t...
The performance impact of vertex shader exports
Following up on the previous post on GPU utilization and performance, and to provide a practical example, I expanded a bit on a topic discussed in brief: vertex shader exports and their impact on p…
interplayoflight.wordpress.com
September 21, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Continuing on the topic of GPU utilisation and performance, as a practical example, I looked a bit deeper into the impact of vertex shader exports on the cost of a drawcall and wrote another blog post with some observations interplayoflight.wordpress.com/2025/09/21/t...