#81 - Teemu Haila: How AI Is Changing How Games Are Built, Tested & Run

The Gaming Playbook w/ Harry Phokou · Oct 1, 2026 · 1h 12m

Today I’m joined by Teemu Haila, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Metaplay. Teemu has spent more than 20 years in game development, co-founded PlayRiven before its acquisition by Rovio, and now works at the intersection of AI and live service game development.

We talk about how AI agents are already changing the way games are built and run, including a real example where work that previously took two engineering teams two months was completed by one developer using AI in two weeks. We also cover AI-powered game testing, faster iteration, how much smaller game teams could become, and…