Copyright Wccftech
Blanket statements are rarely a good idea for several reasons, chief among them being that they can often be disproven almost immediately. That's the situation Nexon's chief executive officer, Junghun Lee, finds himself in after an interview with Game*Spark (translated by Automaton), where, while discussing the controversy surrounding ARC Raiders and Nexon's subsidiary Embark Studios using generative AI, he claimed, "It's important to assume that every game company is now using AI." Whether it's "important" to make that assumption largely depends on where you're sitting. If you're the CEO of a big games company, then perhaps it is important if you're concerned about staying ahead of competitors. But for that to work, you'd also have to consider using AI and generative AI technology as an advantage over your competition. Which Nexon and its subsidiary, Embark Studios, certainly do, not just because Embark has used it in both of its major titles, ARC Raiders and The Finals, but also when Embark was founded back in 2018, it was done so with the promise of leaning on advanced AI technology to make games. The full quote from Lee, per Automaton, reads, "First of all, I think it’s important to assume that every game company is now using AI. But if everyone is working with the same or similar technologies, the real question becomes: how do you survive? I believe it’s important to choose a strategy that increases your competitiveness." We also know that Nexon and Embark are not alone in considering it an advantage, as other major companies, like Electronic Arts and Blizzard, have not shied away from using generative AI, forcing it into their developers' work pipelines. Nexon, EA, and Activision Blizzard are some of the bigger companies in the video game industry, and we know they're all using generative AI. The rest of the industry, though? Well, a quick perusal through the responses to Automaton's report confirms what we already knew: it is absolutely not true that every game company is using AI and generative AI technology. To highlight a few of the many, many responses, Strange Scaffold founder (the studio behind I Am Your Beast, Clikcholding, El Paso, Elswhere, etc.) Xalavier Nelson Jr. replied, "We don’t use generative AI at Strange Scaffold and I can confirm that a lot of other studios are not—whether indie or AAA." Indie developer Neil Jones (maker of Ariel Knight's Never Yield) replied, "We don't use Ai in our games. Ai isn't and hasn't ever been needed been needed to make a good game and CEOs like this don't know what the f*** they are talking about." Rogue Eclipse developer Huskrafts replied, "I'm happy to confirm Rogue Eclipse is AI FREE and in fact NOT USED as a part of our process AT ALL! We discourage the use and have ANTI AI USAGE clauses in our agreements!" Goodbye Volcano High developer KO_OP responded with a simple "No." Necrosoft Games, the studio behind the upcoming Demonschool, said "Hello, not only do we not use AI we would rather cut off our own arms than do so. Demonschool is 100% human made." So, no, it's clear that not every game company is using AI and generative AI technology. From a player's perspective, it's arguably more important to assume the opposite of Lee's statement, that the majority of game developers are not using generative AI, because they see their own artistic ability and commitment to their craft as their real advantage over their competition. We can assume that the major companies that have talked about using generative AI, like Nexon and EA, are using it. For everyone else however, the responses to Lee's comment suggests the rest of the industry align with what Starfinder: Afterlight developer Epictellers Entertainment told Wccftech this past October: "There is no point in using AI for any creative endeavor."
