CD Projekt still has a “gigantic and very long way to go” before considering AI for its games

Generative AI is coming to video games, but not everyone approaches it the same way

Developing a game requires many skills. On the scale of triple A, there are hundreds, even thousands of people who intervene to give life to a universe. For about two years, the industry has taken a close interest to generative AI. They are often mentioned to investors by managers, some studios are already experimenting with concrete applications, and others legitimately fear for their jobs or the quality of the games produced. If many study the subject closely without announcing anything to the general public, certain publishers like Ubisoft have already presented tools.

The French publisher took advantage of the recent Game Developers Conference to present NEO NPCsan AI-powered technology that allows NPCs to maintain conversations on the fly with the players. Everything is presented as a complement to the scripted NPCs, but this system did not fail to provoke a reaction. Obviously, many developers have been questioned about these generative AIs. This is particularly the case of Pawel Sasko, previously Quest Director on Cyberpunk 2077. Since promoted to the rank of director on the sequel (Orion), the latter expressed his opinion on the subject to Aftermath.

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An interest currently limited to writing?

He indicated that CD Projekt had carried out R&D on generative AI, but that the results were not convincing. He believes in particular that it still exists “a gigantic and very long way to go” before the quality of the generated NPCs reaches that of the characters created and written by the developers.

I could see how this could be used to increase responsiveness. But when it comes to writing and voice acting, there is a gigantic and very long road ahead. I saw a lot of things behind the scenes. There is a visible gap between written content, i.e. bespoke content that writers, quest designers, cinema designers create with their own hands, and something that AI can provide.

For him, the gap is still really very big, but, obviously, it is something that can evolve very quickly. Andrew Wilson and Jensen Huang, CEOs of EA and NVIDIA respectively, recently made very enthusiastic statements about AI, with the latter even indicating that within ten years, we could play titles made entirely by AI. It remains to be sorted out, these declarations being generally made for investors, who are particularly sensitive to this type of innovation.

However, some developers easily imagine that AI could help with certain specific and yet very time-consuming tasks. Sven Vincke, the very talkative CEO of Larian Studio, explains for example that if he sees generative AI as a tool that can be useful, it will not replace the creative dimension of the human spirit. The years to come will allow us to see how this technology has been integrated or not into published games, or what jobs it has created or disappeared.