Vivrato VAIA Report
CHICAGO, Oct. 20, 2026 — Vivrato, a games industry consultancy, TODAY released the VAIA (Vivrato AI Adoption) Report 2026. Of the over 100 studio leaders Vivrato interviewed, 94% use AI in at least one of nine production stages, but 52% rate how deeply it is built into their full production pipeline at 3 or lower out of 10.
The report draws on confidential interviews with senior studio leaders and decision makers, conducted from April to September 2026 by VAIA Games AI Research & Advisory, Vivrato’s AI research vertical.
AI is already part of the development process for the majority of the studios Vivrato spoke with, but over half have yet to deeply embed it into their production pipelines:
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101 confidential, one-to-one interviews with senior studio leaders and decision makers, conducted April to September 2026.
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97% have used AI in some form.
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94% use AI in at least one of nine production stages.
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3 out of 10 is the median rating for how deeply AI is built into the whole production pipeline. 52% rate it 3 or lower.
Adam Boyes, Founder and CEO of Vivrato, explains: “We’ve noticed this year, public discourse and definitions about AI in games usually defaults to generative AI: chatbots, image generation and synthetic voices. However, we know that studios use AI in a variety of ways, from machine learning that predicts player churn to rules-based automation in testing, with very different results. That makes now the right moment to set a clear baseline, so we created VAIA, a dedicated research vertical within Vivrato to track and measure what is actually happening behind closed doors.
Boyes Continues: “The interesting question isn’t around which game studios are using AI anymore. Most of the 101 leaders we spoke with declared that they have adopted some form of AI within their development pipelines. The focus is now where they’re using it, what is changing, what’s actually helping, and where teams are still running into challenges. Vivrato is in a unique position to have these candid conversations and surface real-world workflows, highlight where approaches differ, and then help studios make better decisions about where it may or may not make sense for them.”
Available now is the 2026 VAIA Snapshot at vivrato.com/vaia
The full VAIA Report 2026 is available in two editions. The Studio Report benchmarks a studio against its size cohort (1 to 24, 25 to 100, or 101+ people). The Enterprise Report includes the complete report and data annex, plus new interviews inside the client’s own organization and a bespoke, in-person session with the Vivrato VAIA research team to explore the findings in depth. Contact the Vivrato team to find out more.
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Notes to editors
For additional information or interview requests, email [email protected].
VAIA is a structured interview study, not an online survey. Between April and September 2026, Vivrato held 101 confidential conversations with senior studio leaders, primarily at studios headquartered in North America and Europe. Each conversation followed the same 44-question guide and covered the same nine production stages. Answers are anonymized and reported only in aggregate. No individual or company is identified.
Validation
The research was reviewed by independent games-research analysts.
About Vivrato
Founded in 2024 by Adam Boyes, Vivrato is a consultancy serving the games industry. It helps publishers and studios grow their operations, plan game launches, assess finances, and integrate emerging technology. Its advice draws on hands-on experience running games businesses.
EMAIL: [email protected]
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vivrato
WEBSITE: https://www.vivrato.com