Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot plans to answer players’ in-game questions by searching the open Internet for content guides and presenting them to gamers without explanation, at least based on a demo at last week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
This is a potentially seismic event for what’s left of the gaming press. Microsoft says it’s looking into ways to license content from creators, but the details are vague, and the demo told a different story.
A wide variety of authors (full disclosure: myself included) work on creating video game guide content, which can range from old-school .txt files on sites like GameFAQs to fan wikis to personal YouTube channels. It’s a huge part of the press, and it’s one of its biggest remaining traffic drivers. Now Gaming Copilot plans to raid that information store.
This was demonstrated during the Gaming Copilot demo put on by Microsoft’s Sonali Yadav and Haiyan Zhang at GDC. Show them some of LLM’s options, including being able to ask it for advice by voice or text about what game to play next, or tips about a current mission, such as a specific quest Diablo 4.
You can also check with Gaming Copilot for information about your account, such as when your Game Pass subscription is set to renew, or information such as your playtime.
According to Ethan Gach at Kotaku, Yadav and Zhang said the company is looking at ways to license the guide’s content to online creators. That deals with some of the more obvious issues.
In a perfect world, that would mean money is actually changing hands here, whether it’s sponsors, product deals, or Microsoft just writing some checks.
As Gach noted on Bluesky, however, the GDC demo had Copilot present that information to the user without explanation, and it’s unclear if that will change before it launches on Xbox consoles.
In this way, Gaming Copilot provides another example of an AI program eating its own seed corn. If it takes off in any measurable way, Xbox will be moving audiences through the ecosystem of online guides exploited by Copilot. If Copilot reduces the need for third party websites, then before long, there won’t be any third party guide websites for Copilot to draw on.
It also creates a bad incentive for bad actors to commit poisoning on purpose. Three years ago, Military World again The future players on Reddit made headlines for talking about a boss called “Glorbo” who wasn’t actually in any game, in an attempt to trick lock bots. At least one content mill has fallen victim to the scam, by automatically generating an article that acted as if Glorbo was a real up-and-coming boss Wow.
Regardless of what content filters Microsoft has in place, Gaming Copilot may be similarly attacked within days of its release. It’s like Christmas for trolls.
One very obvious way is for Microsoft to create its own online library of strategy guide content, so Copilot can stick to its own specialized sources.
While it would cost some money to hire a few game freelancers to write guides for the nearly 7,200 games in the 25-year-old Xbox library (give or take many are no longer available), it would be a pittance compared to the money Microsoft is throwing into AI research. In return, it will avoid both the ethical and practical issues inherent in the structure.
First announced almost one year ago, Gaming Copilot (slightly rebranded from Copilot for Gaming) is currently available in beta for Xbox PC and mobile apps as well as Microsoft’s portable console, ROG Xbox Ally, which launched in October.
This feature is scheduled to launch on Xbox consoles later this year.
Copilot is one of three major AI-driven gaming features coming to Xbox, including highlight reels and automatic “high resolution” for high frames. It also offers users an ersatz game buddy, so you always have an absent friend to chat with while playing.
At the end of the day, though, Gaming Copilot is a solution in search of a problem, like many other AI-driven features. It deals with issues that are not there to proceed with the least desirable action. In its current form, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where Gaming Copilot ends up being more than a curiosity.
