Ryan Dancey is no longer the Chief Operating Officer of the board game firm Alderac Entertainment Group. On Wednesday, CEO John Zinser posted to BlueSky that "Ryan Dancey and AEG have parted ways", which Dancey confirmed on his own LinkedIn. The split comes just a day after Dancey made comments praising the potential of AI in the tabletop gaming industry, and claiming that "I have zero reason to believe that an AI couldn't 'come up with Tiny Towns or Flip Seven or Cubitos'".
"This morning John Zinser and I talked about the aftermath of my post yesterday about the ability of AI to create ideas for games", Dancey writes on LinkedIn. "He's decided that it's time for me to move on to new adventures". He says "I've enjoyed my 10 years at AEG. I wish the team there the best in their future endeavors".
Though AEG hasn't made any formal response to Dancey's original comments about AI in the games industry, Zinser did acknowledge them in a BlueSky post stating "There's been conversation today about AI and game design". He explained "I want to be clear where I stand. For 30+ years, AEG has worked with human designers to bring games to life. That creative partnership, the collaboration, the shared spark, is what makes tabletop special. That is not changing."
Zinser's follow up post on Wednesday states that "As AEG moves into its next chapter, leadership alignment and clarity matter more than ever", and Dancey's departure "Reflects that reality". He adds that "Our commitment to our designers, partners, retailers, and players remains unchanged", and "We will continue building great games through collaboration, creativity, and trust".
In his latest LinkedIn post, Dancey says "I do not believe that AI will replace the work talented game designer / developers do, nor do I think it is appropriate to use AI to replace the role of designer / developers in the publication of tabletop games". He adds that "During my time at AEG I developed and implemented policies and contracts that reflect those views".
Dancey states that "It's important to me that you know what I believe and what I don't believe on this particular topic". He says: "I believe we're at a civilizational turning point", "That who we are and how we are is going to change on the order of what happened during the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions; and it's past time we started talking about it and not being afraid to discuss the topic". He adds that "Talking about AI, being honest about what it can and cannot do, and thinking about the implications is something we have to begin to do in a widespread way".
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