Why hello Reader,
In June, I spoke at the XP Summit here in Toronto—a gathering of game developers from across the industry. Instead of focusing on the usual competitive angle, I talked about something that doesn’t get as much attention: how the bots we build could actually help make games better.
Think about it—most studios are drowning in QA work. Testing is repetitive, slow, and expensive. Meanwhile, our bots already do what testers can’t: run the same scenario over and over without losing focus, break things in unexpected ways, and explore every edge case without complaint.
Studios like Ubisoft and EA are already leaning into this. They’re using bots to balance systems, run overnight tests, and catch bugs humans miss.
So here’s the idea I pitched at XP: what if our bots weren’t just good at playing games, but actually improving them? What if the next step for your project wasn’t a stronger opponent—but a smarter ally for game devs?
There’s a real opportunity here. Not just to sharpen your skills, but to build something useful—something that makes the whole game better.
