A backlash against the spreading use of AI in video games has grown “sensational,” the developer behind the surprise smash hit Arc Raiders has warned after being caught in the middle of the fallout.
The $200 billion video game industry is riven by disagreement over how to integrate AI into its creative processes. The new tech has been celebrated as the next big revolution by some, but also lambasted as a threat driving out human creativity and degrading quality. The very people who might have been expected to be its most avid fans, PC gamers, are obstinately hostile.
Arc Raiders, a surprise hit from Stockholm-based Embark Studios that sold 12 million copies in three months, was briefly vilified online for its robotic-sounding auto-generated voices — even as CEO Patrick Soderlund insists AI was only used for non-essential elements.
EA’s Battlefield 6 and Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 both drew gamer anger this winter over thematically mismatched or poorly generated graphics, and Valve’s Steam has added labels to flag games made using AI.
Some 47% of developers polled by research house Omdia said they expect generative AI to reduce game quality, and PC gamers — now facing inflated hardware prices from AI-driven demand for graphics chips — have turned reflexively antagonistic.
