AI Driving Game Demo Forces Developer to Take Out Bank Loan to Keep It Running

The developer behind Teach My Little Sister How to Drive, a driving instruction sim where you instruct a generative-AI-powered, dynamic NPC, has been spending $1,000 dollars a day to keep the demo working. “Over the past month, the number of demo players has grown more than twentyfold,” the developer said, via FRVR. “This growth has also increased our operating costs considerably.”

It all seems viable and a good business model so far. According to the blog post, developer Easy Fox had to take out a bank loan to support the game, which is powered by AI models. AI models costs can soar dramatically as the number of requests users make, which consume “tokens,” increase. Teach My Little Sister constantly queries AI as players interact with the game’s NPC to progress.

The developer plans to factor this in when deciding how much to charge for the game’s full release. …