100%. Creativity is now the bottleneck, not resources. A single person can now dream up and build a game that even a 1,000-person team couldn't have made just a year ago.

When I was writing Unreal Engine 1, my time was divided as follows: - Around 30% went to seriously deep coding on hard problems: assembly language texture mappers, C++ BSP trees, data persistence, object oriented systems design, and networking. - Around 70% was just typing and refactoring large bodies of code needed for a complete engine feature set. This was not hard, and while I was doing it my mind was mostly on the deeper coding topics, thinking and planning for what's next. It didn't feel much different from vibe coding today, except that it was just me typing code on an IBM Model M keyboard rather than prompting it and reviewing the results. So, it has always seemed perfectly logical that we would rely on AI for that 70%, once the AI could do it with a similar quality standard as we could, which has never been perfection. It came as no surprise that, after a few years of AI model evolution, it was able to take the reigns on that 70% and free up programmers' time for more valuable tasks. What's more of a surprise is the emergence of AI as a sort of insta-Carmack able to solve hard technical problems quite cleverly and often cleanly, and that it's able to reason about and work in complex 3D scenes both by operating the tools and by directly understanding the raw data files. I abandoned assembly language in 1998 when out-of-order CPUs made much simpler C/C++ code faster, and never I missed it. If prompting through architectural documents, concept art, and design plans can transcend typing code and tweaking vertices, that will enable developers to spend their time on higher-level, higher value technical and creative tasks. What matters is the end product, whether it's a game or an engine. Anything developers can do to try out more ideas and make better software and games faster is a win for everyone.

The games we've long wanted, which didn't exist because they'd cost several times more to make than they'd earn back, will soon become possible. As will the games developers wanted to build, but couldn't with the resources available. It'll be a new golden age of gaming.

I believe DeepSeek’s recent developments should not be misconstrued as a mere demonstration of Chinese assertiveness or an attempt to undermine Western technology. Rather, it represents a meticulously orchestrated defensive strategy by both China’s private sector and government to forestall the imposition of more severe sanctions by an increasingly “China-hawkish” U.S. administration, exemplified by actions against platforms like TikTok. A significant challenge in enforcing punitive measures against China to establish a reciprocal technological relationship—ensuring equal opportunities for app launches in both China and the U.S.—lies in the realm of open-source technology. China is acutely aware of this dynamic. The release of DeepSeek, notably timed on the eve of the Lunar New Year (poor timing for Chinese employees), serves as a preemptive measure against potential U.S. actions. It is not a coincidence that this happened shortly after Trump's inauguration - where many tech have been advising Trump significantly on the topic of US v. China tech. By introducing Deepkseek, an advanced open-source codebase, China not only showcases its technological capabilities but also complicates the U.S.‘s ability to impose punitive measures, as such actions could hinder global technological collaboration from which the U.S. also benefits. This scenario underscores China’s confidence in its global positioning. By willingly sharing substantial value now, China aims to continue reaping the benefits of global technological collaboration, thereby deterring potential sanctions, while simultaneously maintaining a closed domestic market for its consumers.