AI is making games faster and cheaper to build, giving developers more room to take creative risks, revive overlooked genres, and let players reshape the worlds they play in. In this conversation, a16z's Jon Lai and Anish Acharya join Elena Burger to discuss why human taste still determines what makes a game fun, how modding created some of gaming's biggest franchises, the opportunity for new distribution platforms, and games that adapt to whatever players choose to do. 0:00 Intro 0:57 How AI can now build a game 6:21 What shorter dev cycles unlock 10:08 Can AI make a game fun? 12:27 When creating is the game 14:01 Building a Habbo Hotel record shop 16:16 His son rebuilt Ghost of Tsushima in Minecraft 17:54 Mods: where billion-dollar franchises come from 20:36 Decompiling and reviving dead games 22:45 The renaissance of niche genres 25:51 Managing AI agents like an RTS game 28:02 The business of AI games 33:53 What excites and scares studios 35:16 The never-ending game 37:56 The games they'd finally buQild YouTube: http://youtu.be/HDRy6XmE2RQ @VirtualElena @illscience @Tocelot