Warhorse Studios / DexertoLarian has been under fire recently after revealing that they plan to experiment with the use of generative AI while developing Divinity, and the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 director has spoken out to back the CEO’s statements.
When Divinity was revealed at The Game Awards, fans got excited fast, despite it still being in early production and likely not releasing for a few years. This was only heightened when the CEO of Larian Studios revealed that Divinity will be “way better” than Baldur’s Gate 3, the RPG that received an incredible reception upon release.
However, at the same time, the CEO revealed that the company is experimenting with the use of generative AI to perform the tasks “nobody wants to do”, like “motion capture cleaning or voice editing” or to “explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art, and write placeholder text.”
He assured fans that “everything is human actors; we’re writing everything ourselves,” but the community lashed out, calling the company out for their use of AI. This prompted the CEO to respond, explaining, “Holy f**k guys we’re not ‘pushing hard’ for or replacing concept artists with AI… We have a team of 72 artists, of which 23 are concept artists, and we are hiring more. The art they create is original, and I’m very proud of what they do.”
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 director speaks out
Now, the director of the huge RPG Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has also spoken out on the matter, explaining that “Larian said they were doing something that absolutely everyone else is doing and got an insanely crazy sh**storm.”
Warhorse StudiosHe continued by explaining that, “I’m no fan of AI-generated art, but anyway, it’s time to face reality. AI is here to stay with us. As frightening as it may be, that’s the way it is… If AI can help me make an epic game in a year with a smaller team like in the old days, I’m all for it. That game will still have an art director, writers, programmers, and graphic designers, but they won’t have to do the tiresome and boring tasks; they’ll have to focus on the essentials.”
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“Resisting this is probably as meaningful as resisting the use of sewing machines in the textile industry. Who and how will recognize if the game was programmed by a human or AI? And who would want to spend months of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars when the same thing could be achieved in minutes for free,” added Daniel Vávra.
Ultimately, the use of AI in video games is here to stay, and it’s up to the developers how much they use it in their games, but it remains a contentious topic among the community, regardless of who speaks out on it.