Larian's admission that they are using generative AI in specific tasks (concept art, placeholder text, and PowerPoint presentations) while making the new Divinity game turned into a massive controversy, between the backlash of many fans who swear they won't touch their games unless they backtrack and the studio's own rebuttal and clarification that no AI-made content will reach the final game and no human will lose their job because of it.
Now, the founder and creative director of a fellow RPG developer, Daniel Vávra of Warhorse (the makers of Kingdom Come: Deliverance), has shared his own thoughts on the topic. Vávra is not one to mince words (see his recent open criticism of Obsidian for The Outer Worlds 2), and he went all-out in this case, stating that Larian has just voiced what literally every developer is doing and adding that AI is, at this point, a reality we can't really come back from, despite a hysteria that he likened to people 'smashing steam engines' back at the time of the industrial revolution.
This AI hysteria is the same as when people were smashing steam engines in the 19th century. Larian said they were doing something that absolutely everyone else is doing and got an insanely crazy sh*tstorm. I've even seen someone accuse us of using AI in KCD2. I don't know anything about it, except that I used Topaz Labs to upscale some of the AI elements from KCD1 and some of the old low-res textures. 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.
Vávra then went on to say that he hates how long it takes, not to mention how many people and how much money are needed, to make videogames nowadays.
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, graphic designers, but they won't have to do the tiresome and boring tasks, they'll have to focus on the essentials. I have ideas for lots of games, but I'm fifty years old and so far it's taken me seven years on average to make one game. If AI helps me realize those ideas faster, I'm all for it.
This is essentially what Larian and other developers want to use it for. The gaming industry faces a significant challenge with rising budgets and increasingly long development timeframes, and the only viable solution is to smartly apply AI-powered tools where possible to reduce time spent on tedious, repetitive tasks. There is another potential course of action, of course: to greatly reduce either scope, quality, or both. For obvious reasons, none of the developers or publishers believe this would be a winning formula.
In his lengthy X post, the Game Director of Kingdom Come: Deliverance also mentioned other potential use cases of generative AI in gaming, such as RPGs allowing players to ask certain NPCs anything (like in that Skyrim mod powered by Inworld AI technology) within the context of that game world. Moreover, he notes that soon AI will do the programming in games, with software architects overseeing that work, and 'resisting this is probably as meaningful as resisting the use of sewing machines in the textile industry.'
Vávra concludes noting that AI may well ultimately bring about the demise of humanity as foreseen in Terminator, but it could also mean that virtually 'anyone, at a fraction of the current cost, will be able to implement virtually any grand idea. Making a game will be as easy as writing a book.' Either way, he says, there's no stopping it.
Needless to say, this is the hottest topic not only in gaming but across most industries. Larian's reveal only served to bring it to the forefront of discussion, given their status as a revered developer after Baldur's Gate 3 (though a new attack on the studio just came in from several writers who criticized their hiring practices). Feel free to vote in the poll below and write your opinion in the comments!
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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