a16z’s Joshua Lu says AI is already radically changing video games and Discord is the future

Andreessen Horowitz’s partner Joshua Lu knows that, in the video game industry, you can never get too comfortable. When he was head of product at Zynga, he experienced the height of mobile games, working on hits like Words with Friends; then as a vice president at Blizzard Entertainment, he helped produce tentpole hits like Diablo Immortal. And then, as a director of product management at Meta, he learned to see games in new dimensions while working on the VR game, Horizon Worlds.

“I had to forget what I thought were universal truths and learn a whole new set of ways to do things,” Lu told TechCrunch.

Now Lu wants a front-row seat to where video games are heading. After joining the firm as an investor in 2022, Lu helped launch the firm’s Speedrun accelerator, which invests $750,000 apiece into about 40 gaming startups twice a year. Now on the firm's third cohort — with the applications for the fourth cohort now open — Lu said he’s seen how AI and new distribution platforms are changing the industry.

Half of the accelerator’s current batch are AI companies, doing everything from creating AI-crafted stories to using AI for 3D avatars. “The last game that I worked on at Blizzard took six years and a $250 million budget to ship,” he said, referring to Diablo Immortal. “But wouldn't it be so great if that kind of quality of game could be done with a 10th of the budget and a 10th of the people?”

We might quibble with how great it is for AI to kill high-paying developer jobs at the largest game companies. But if AI also helps more startups form and be qualitatively competitive, that’s a compelling thought.

Lu says he’s seen firsthand how companies are getting creative, citing Clementine, a startup that went through Speedrun. The company “released a demo where you had to solve a mystery by talking to AI and making sure that they didn't find out that you were a human,” he said. That may be a terrifying premise, or a tongue-in-cheek one, depending on how existential a threat you think AI could become.

Lu also mentioned Echo Chunk, a company that raised $1.4 million in a round led by Speedrun. Echo Chunk went viral for its game Echo Chess that uses AI to instantly generate an endless number of levels. “These are all fairly early explorations,” he said. “But we're excited in general about novel types of game design interactions and game dynamics that can be unlocked because of AI.”

Lu is also advocating for startups to build games atop Discord. Earlier this year, Discord made it so developers can create apps for people to use within the chatting platform. Lu said that, over the course of his career, he’s seen the places for people to discover games dwindle; for example, no one finds games through social media feeds anymore, like many did with FarmVille. “Where can we find the next platform where truly social games can be created and distributed?” Lu said.

Several companies entered the accelerator building within Discord. Lu said several more pivoted to building in Discord over the course of the 12 weeks. “There are more games being made than ever, and it's hard for developers to stand out,” he said. He hopes building on Discord will help “people to find pieces of content that they would really like playing.”