Arc Raiders released today, and while a huge number of players flocked to the game to celebrate its launch, it's no secret that the loot shooter shares some tensions with Embark Studio's previous title, The Finals. A sore spot for many gaming enthusiasts is artificial intelligence, a technology that Embark makes no secret of.
In The Finals, Embark Studios used text-to-speech AI combined with real-life voice actors to quickly create fresh lines for the game. something the developer has been criticized for by voice actors and gamers. This implementation of AI returned in Arc Raiders, along with machine learning, which was used to create animations for Arc enemies when their parts are destroyed, which manifests itself in dynamic movements.
Generative AI, which is understandably disdained, was not used in Arc Raiders, Embark Studios COO Stefan Strandberg told Eurogamer. However, the Embark team remains committed to being “at the forefront of new technologies.” How does Embark strike a balance between human creativity and the use of AI at a time when it is, for good reason, extremely controversial?
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“We use AI as tools to help create certain content, but it's always in the context of creativity, as an expression of the team,” Strandberg tells Eurogamer. “Obviously it depends on how people define AI, which makes it more difficult. The movement of some of our Arc enemies has been trained using machine learning, which creates these fantastic surprise moments. If you shoot off his leg, he will try to regain his balance. It’s AI, if you will.”
Before founding Embark Studios with his colleagues, Strandberg worked at EA for many years. His roots at the company were in sound design, having worked in that role on several Battlefield games before moving into management roles at the company for several years. Against this backdrop, Strandberg talked about the use of text-to-speech (or TTS) in Embark games, including Arc Raiders.
“I just finished recording two days ago with two amazing actors who you'll hear in the pre-order trailer. These are real actors. There is something special and dynamic about two people coming together and for me, originally a sound engineer, there is nothing that can replace that in my opinion.
“TTS allows us to expand the scope of the game in some areas where we feel it's necessary, or where there's tedious repetition, in situations where voice actors might not see it as valuable work. So it's a broad umbrella, but the gameplay doesn't use any kind of generative AI.”
According to Strandberg, the use of technologies such as text-to-speech has helped Embark Studios shrink, which he believes is extremely important given the current state of the video game industry: “We're in a time now where you've seen team sizes increase over the last ten years, and we as a studio felt like that was unsustainable. Today's mainstream games, some IPs, require 2000 people. Then the next iteration will require 3,000 people!”
“When we opened the studio, we said we should be able to capitalize more on these technologies that are coming out, but studios that were set up 15 years ago or so are just built differently. We started with this thought: how can we use new technologies, how can we promote new technologies? Bye maintaining a small team and taking creative risks. Additionally, it can help you scale up the game and bring features to a state they otherwise wouldn't be on such a small team. So I’m proud of what we achieved there.”
Strandberg may be proud of this, but a big question remains. Where exactly does the human element end at Embark and AI development begin? Is it a fixed line or will it move towards automation in the future? What can we say to those who are concerned about the constant displacement of human talent? To this, Strandberg emphasizes that despite Embark's desire to use new technologies, such tools are not a replacement for developers.
“There are no shortcuts to making great games. You need so many things: a clear vision, a great culture, clear goals. The vision will determine how you achieve it.”
Strandberg elaborates: “We are always leading the way in what allows us to create new and exciting experiences for players, which can help us achieve this. The tools available to us now are becoming more and more exciting than they were. So, that's how I think about it. Going back to the automation, when you rip off an enemy's leg and see him struggling with one less leg, it's a tiny moment, but you're almost playing with something out of self-preservation. It teases me. But this is just one part of this process, done using machine learning. It's still what the design team wanted to do, the guidelines are what the design team wanted this game to be.
“So as a team that's very interested in this, you have to think about what this allows us to do. But there is no such thing as simply autopiloting development, simply killing 40 enemies in one week. Without this investment we would not be where we are today.”
Arc Raiders is out now and connection errors on launch day seem to be largely fixed. If you are interested in the game, why not read Eurogamer's Arc Raiders preview here?!
