Layer AI’s Joona Rahko on the transformative power of AI in game development

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Pocket Gamer Connects, the leading international conference series for the global games industry is coming back to London on January 20th and 21st, 2025. 

This must-attend event will unite more than 2,750 industry professionals for two days of learning, pitching and networking. Attendees will dive into 20 expertly curated conference tracks exploring the latest mobile, PC, console, web3, AI, and other key trends and technologies. 

One of the incredible range of speakers is Joona Rahko, the lead developer of the Layer platform – compliant generative AI for game studios. 

Layer AI is a seed-stage B2B startup built for games with enterprise-ready solutions for studios of all sizes. With Layer, game developers can leverage gen-AI to supercharge their art pipelines, scale player content, and reduce production time. 

Before joining Layer’s founding team, Joona had a long tenure working as a Principal Engineer at Unity, launching Unity Cloud and Unity Gaming Services. Outside of engineering, Joona is a former entrepreneur, a lifelong gamer, and a professional athlete.

We spoke with Rahko to learn more about AI’s ongoing evolution in game development.

Tell us more about you session at PGC London

I will be discussing Layer AI and how we are revolutionizing the generative AI landscape with our innovative graph-based Gen AI tool. This tool empowers users to design flexible, reusable workflows for creating diverse assets, addressing the growing demand for adaptability and efficiency in asset generation processes.

Why it’s important:

Generative AI is transforming industries, but traditional tools often lack customization and scalability. Our graph-based approach not only enhances flexibility but also simplifies complex workflows, enabling users to achieve consistent, high-quality results while saving time and resources. This innovation paves the way for a new standard in how creators, developers, and businesses harness the power of AI.

If you could give other mobile games companies one piece of advice, what would it be?

Focus on perfecting a solid, engaging core gameplay loop, then use generative AI to quickly and cost-effectively re-skin or re-theme your game. This approach ensures that the heart of your experience is both fun and flexible, allowing you to efficiently explore new aesthetics, storylines, and audience niches without lengthy redevelopment.

Where are the next big opportunities in the mobile games market?

The next major opportunity in mobile gaming is deeply integrating AI into gameplay, not just for generating content but for shaping the entire player experience. While generative AI will certainly first be used to quickly produce custom art, characters, and game UI the real breakthrough will come when AI-driven systems continuously adapt the game’s world, difficulty, and narrative in response to each player’s actions.

Imagine NPCs who learn from your behavior and adjust their strategies, or environments that evolve over time, tailoring challenges to your skill level. These adaptive, dynamic worlds will turn every session into a unique experience, moving beyond static, scripted content. This will keep the games engaging and fresh.

What is the single biggest challenge facing the mobile games industry today?

The toughest nut to crack is finding harmony between profitability and delighting players. Everyone’s fighting for the player’s attention, and it’s easy to slip into short-sighted monetization that grates on players. But at the end of the day, gamers aren’t just numbers on a dashboard. We are people looking for a little escape from our day-to-day and good times. If the gameplay is genuinely fun, the money will follow.

What’s your favourite ever mobile game?

Pokémon GO, hands down. It turned the entire world into a playground. I was working in London around the time that the game came out, and I’ll never forget strolling through the street watching people hunt down rare Pokémon together. It felt like being part of a massive, joyful treasure hunt, with the perfect blend of community, exploration, and excitement.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received that you can pass on to others?

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.

It’s a reminder that excellence isn’t some overnight occurrence. It’s the result of consistent effort and stacking up small wins every single day. Just as a brilliant game emerges from countless iterations and improvements, real success comes from the habits we choose and nurture.

What was the fundamental appeal of the mobile games industry that brought you to it?

My first-ever mobile phone was a classic Nokia 3310. The battery practically lasted forever, and I lost count of how many rounds of Snake I played on it. As a Finn, there’s a bittersweet pride in knowing that this tiny, unbreakable brick was part of our mobile gaming legacy.