French publisher Ubisoft presented a research experiment called “Teammates“, which uses generative artificial intelligence technology to turn non-player characters into so-called “living companions”.
During a closed-door briefing at Ubisoft's Paris studio, attended by Game Developer, Ubisoft said that this small experience is an example of how its development teams will be “innovators in the future of generative games.”
Ubisoft is currently accelerating research and development into player-centric generative AI, having previously used the nascent technology to create Neo-NPCs.described by the publisher as interactive characters rather than programs— in tandem with Nvidia.
Company Neo NPC prototype debuted in March 2024 and has since doubled down on generative artificial intelligence efforts to create its first gaming experience.
“In the original 2024 prototype, Neo-NPCs exhibited new cognitive and natural language abilities, but remained in a static environment. Teammates “now places our non-player characters (NPCs) in a more traditional first-person shooter gameplay environment with new advanced AI features that allow them to dynamically respond to voice commands in real time and adapt their behavior to each situation, revealing different personalities along the way,” the press release states.
“From mission briefing to battlefield command, Teammates React naturally, adapting to player strategies, moods, and even personal slang, creating a feeling of unprecedented responsiveness. Using Ubisoft’s unique technology stack, they can interpret player intent and tone, as well as environmental cues, to generate fluid, context-sensitive responses, deepening player immersion and agency.”
The company explained Teammates was created by a team of 80 people and uses Google Gemini combined with its own middleware. By comparison, when Neo NPC was unveiled last year, the company had about 25 employees working on generative artificial intelligence experiments.
Teammates runs on its proprietary Snowdrop game engine, which is used in many of its top-tier projects.
Speaking to press during yesterday's briefing, Ubisoft's director of generative AI gameplay, Xavier Manzanares, said the team is determined to “put aside the 'GenAI' buzzword” by creating experiences that have a meaningful impact on players.
Teammates Ubisoft hopes this will be a proof of concept that will show how a divisive technology that is often promoted by executives but appears to have already has not yet won the favor of many ordinary developers. The experiment introduces a new in-game companion named Jaspar, a witty personal assistant (not too Siri-like) who can engage in conversation with players at the touch of a button.
“Jaspar recognizes the player by name, helps with onboarding, understands the game's story, and can highlight threats or key objects in the environment. It can remind players of mission objectives, suggest next steps, and generally act as a tactical guide when they are unsure of what to do next,” Ubisoft explained.
“With the ability to control HUD elements, open menus, and control settings, Jaspar can customize the player interface on the fly, adapting to colorblindness or changing visual elements. These new agent capabilities already show great potential to improve accessibility and personalization in future games.”
“If it could be done better with a controller, let's give it up”
During our practical communication with Teammateswe've successfully used Jaspar to minimize HUD elements, highlight enemies for easier targeting, break down mission briefings, and define mission objectives – all with fairly simple voice commands.
Teammates there are also two NPC allies named Pablo and Sofia who can be dispatched to help with combat, puzzle solving, and more. Ubisoft was keen to highlight that all of its GenAI-enabled characters are capable of responding to contextual voice commands that don't require players to provide instructions in painstaking detail.
For example, when I was tasked with solving a puzzle that required Pablo and Sofia to stand on two separate pressure plates, I was able to tell Pablo to “stand on the plate to the left” before asking Sofia to “take the other plate.” Both instructions were understood.
You could even have Pablo and Sofia congratulate each other after a successful combat excursion, and Jaspar actively seeks to engage in unconventional conversations with players throughout the experiment.
“We use behavior trees like we've done in our games in the past, and then add a layer with our LLM to make decisions based on that. So we control from a design perspective what they can say and do, but then the LLM has to decide, based on the context, how it should be done. […] It's about reasoning, what the state of the game is, and then taking action,” Manzanares said, discussing how these context-based actions unfold.
Pressure plate test / Image via Ubisoft
Manzanares stated that the goal was Teammates The goal of the project was not to create a video game or a demo, but to create something that people could “feel” as players before handing it off to creative directors and internal teams within Ubisoft to demonstrate the clear potential of generative AI.
“It's all about redefining how you interact with games through your voice. Do the commands you give to your teammates or the AI make you feel better? Do you feel like a leader? Do you feel more than what you could feel using a controller? That was the goal,” Manzanares continued.
“Why? Because we want to know as quickly as possible what works and what doesn't work. If it can be done better with a controller, let's give it up. Let's not waste time. We don't have time. Let's not waste time on things that don't matter.”
Manzanares admitted that the experiment was still “rough”, but said the main goal was to create something from scratch that would demonstrate the potential of interactive gameplay.
Recent comments from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot indicate that the company is betting big on this potential becoming a reality.
Discussing the company's AI plans during its earnings call earlier today (as written by Game File), the longtime executive said Ubisoft is making huge strides to apply generative AI to “high-value use cases that bring tangible benefits to our players and teams.”
Guillemot suggested that the impact of generative artificial intelligence on video games will be comparable to the transition to 3D, and confirmed that Ubisoft hopes to become a leader in this field.
“On the player experience front, we continue to make progress on innovative player-centric generative AI applications, building on our Neo NPC announcements in 2024. We've already progressed from prototyping to player reality and look forward to sharing more before the end of the year,” he explained.
“On the production side, we now have teams across all of our studios and offices implementing this new technology and constantly exploring new use cases in programming, graphics and overall game quality.”
The game developer attended the Ubisoft press conference in Paris, with tickets and accommodation provided by the French publisher.
