Leveling Up: A Video Game Company’s Use Case for Managing OSS in AI-Generated Code
Removing Roadblocks, Empowering Developers and Ensuring Compliance
Key Takeaways
Simplified Developer Workflows: Integrated directly into development pipelines
Faster Development: Enabled quicker releases by lifting the AI coding ban.
Reduced Legal Risks: Provided clear compliance with open source code usage.
THE SITUATION
Removing Roadblocks, Empowering Developers and Ensuring Compliance
Traditional SCA tools struggled to identify small or modified open source fragments generated by AI, creating significant compliance and security risks. In response to mounting concerns over copyright risks and ownership issues, the legal team imposed an organization-wide ban on AI-assisted coding. This decision, while necessary, resulted in suboptimal productivity, limiting efficiency and innovation. These challenges not only slowed their go-to-market strategy but also increased operational risks, such as missing critical game release windows, overburdening the development team, and losing time to work on updates or expansions. highlighting the need for a more effective solution.
THE SOLUTION
Adopting SCANOSS for Comprehensive OSS Detection
To tackle oversight gaps left by traditional SCA tools, the company turned to SCANOSS. The solution was integrated directly into the development workflow through pre-commit hooks. Every time a developer attempted to commit code, SCANOSS would perform a micro-scan the code for undeclared open source code. If any undeclared or non-compliant code was found, the commit was blocked, and a terminal message provided a clear breakdown of the files and components in question, along with a prompt to launch the SCANOSS code compare feature.
The SCANOSS Code Compare feature, a user-friendly graphical interface, works like a highlighter, drawing attention to matched open source fragments by presenting them side by side with the developer’s code. It simply surfaces the matches, leaving the decision-making entirely in the hands of the developer. Developers could quickly register previously un-registered or undeclared open source components or document proprietary code, ensuring compliance while staying productive. SCANOSS’s seamless integration into git and the local development environment made it a natural fit for developers, enhancing workflows without adding unnecessary complexity.
THE OUTCOME
Faster development, on-time releases, and reduced legal risks.
Thanks to SCANOSS, the company achieved better visibility into its codebase and regained confidence in safely using AI-assisted code. Within just one month, the legal team lifted the AI-assisted coding ban, giving developers the freedom to innovate without disruptions.
In the gaming industry, developing a major title is a high-stakes endeavor. Projects can span five years or more, with budgets often exceeding $50 million and potential profits reaching billions for a successful release. Any risk to Core IP could jeopardise the entire project. Additional delays during development not only result in significant financial losses but also risk losing their competitiveness. In such a fast-paced industry, time-to-market is key, because being first to market offers immense advantages, , making efficiency and risk mitigation critical.
For this company, adopting SCANOSS and lifting the AI coding ban ensured their development teams had access to the latest AI tools available keeping timelines on track, while specific figures are unavailable, the streamlined workflows and restored confidence in compliance allowed them to improve developer productivity and protect their investment and focus on innovation. By addressing compliance challenges early, the company avoided disruptions and positioned itself to deliver innovative games without compromising quality or release schedules.
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