Video Game Makers Are Now Actively Harnessing AI
Big names such as Blizzard, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Roblox, and Epic Games are starting to incorporate AI in their projects.
Artificial intelligence is now being harnessed to automate routine operations, allowing human talent to focus on more critical aspects of the process. Gradually, AI has started to handle even more creative tasks. For instance, generating plot dialogues, creating relevant images, or populating games with secondary random characters for background roles.
This practice is known as Generative AI, often abbreviated as GenAI. It's an AI designed to create new content — be it texts, images, music, or scenarios — based on human-provided input data. GenAI digests and analyzes all input information and uses it to generate content needed at various stages of gameplay creation.
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, famous for creating smash hits like World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, has started assigning the task of generating various character images in their games to AI.
To do this, Blizzard crafted their unique GenAI solution, banning employees from using external AI services to protect against the leaking of confidential and vitally important information. Although this move received praise from the executives and upper management at Blizzard, rank-and-file employees feel that GenAI could use some enhancements.
Square Enix
Square Enix, the Japanese powerhouse known for its successful games like Tomb Raider, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts, is strategically focusing on the incorporation of AI solutions. In May 2022, Square Enix decided to divest several of its subsidiary companies and studios (including Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal), as well as the rights to some game franchises (such as the hugely popular Tomb Raider and Deus Ex). The funds obtained from these sales were then invested in AI technologies and Web3 games.
This decision was led by a fruitful experiment with GenAI, where AI was used to craft a follow-up to the 1983 text-based adventure game, The Portopia Serial Murder Case. The company's management and employees warmly received the updated demo version.
Roblox
Roblox, the online gaming hub, has recently disclosed the introduction of two new tools powered by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Named 'Code Assist' and 'Material Generator,' these tools are designed to simplify the process of game development.
By automating the creation of relevant code segments and generating object textures based on input from designers, these tools have won praise from Roblox's leadership team. They believe that using GenAI makes the creative process faster, more engaging, and more efficient. Eager to continue expanding their array of AI tools, Roblox encourages developers to join their platform and bring forward innovative solutions.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft, the name behind internationally acclaimed gaming franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Watch Dogs, announced in March 2023 their proprietary GenAI tool named 'Ghostwriter.' This AI tool aids scriptwriters in crafting dialogues for secondary characters (NPCs), allowing the writers to focus on the main storyline and not get bogged down by minor details.
Ubisoft's management aspires to develop an array of GenAI solutions in-house, customized to cater to the unique needs of their designers and scriptwriters. As part of this initiative, they plan to employ the Ernestine neural network, capable of generating dialogue scripts with a range of fitting phrases. The only thing left for the scriptwriters to do is to select the most appropriate phrase from the options provided by the AI.
Epic Games
Epic Games, known for its blockbuster titles such as the Unreal series and Fortnite, has been delving into the realm of GenAI. Particularly, games developed using their proprietary Unreal Engine 5 are now able to harness AI for generating dialogues and movements based on the provided text and sound cues.
The developed technology can convert text into speech while considering the character's speech style, accent, and emotional undertones. The visual and auditory results are so astonishing that they've taken even the developers by surprise! Soon, we'll all be able to appreciate these enhancements in our beloved games.
Index of Gaming Projects Leveraging AI
Presented below is an enumeration of games that have, in one way or another, integrated AI, as well as projects that, although still in development, have already begun to employ GenAI.
- FIFA (серія ігор)
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Civilization (серія ігор)
- Watch Dogs (серія ігор)
- The SIMS (серія ігор)
- Fallout 4
- Alien & Alien: Isolation
- Sniper Elite (серія ігор)
- The Last of Us (серія ігор)
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Half-Life
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow Of Chernobyl
- Rocket League
- Meta Gear Solid (серія ігор)
- Minecraft
- AI Dungeon
- Screeps
- CodeCombat
- Cognitoy Dino
- Hello Neighbor
- Black & White
- Forza Motorsport (серія ігор)
- XCOM2
- Total War (серія ігор)
- Rainbow Six Siege
- Stellaris
- Middle-Earth
- Hitman Series
- F.E.A.R.
- First Cry (серія ігор)
- Dishonoured (серія ігор)
- Deus Ex (серія ігор)
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Monster Hunter
- Detroit
- Bioshock Infinite
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- Darkforest
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist
- AlphaGo Zero
