For fans of sci-fi RPGs, one of the most exciting new games on the horizon is undoubtedly Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic — an upcoming single player RPG set in the Old Republic era of the Star Wars timeline in development at Arcanaut Studios, a studio led by several veteran devs that worked on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR), Mass Effect, and Dragon Age, among other franchises.
At the head of the project is Casey Hudson, who formerly directed both KotOR and the Mass Effect trilogy while working at BioWare. Hudson has shared very little about Fate of the Old Republic beyond the fact that it's being designed as a spiritual successor to KotOR and that it's coming out before 2030, though he did touch on some further details in a recent interview according to a new report.
Specifically, according to Bloomberg, Hudson revealed that there are no plans for the use of AI within Arcanaut Studios as it works to build the new Star Wars RPG. "I just find AI to be creatively soulless," he commented. "It’s hard to imagine where it’s actually helpful in the process. I’m just really unimpressed with it."
As someone who very much detests the use of AI-generated content in gaming (and most forms of AI content in general), I'm incredibly glad to hear that Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic won't include any — assuming the current plan holds, anyway.
Notably, the topic of AI came up as a result of discussion about Arcanaut Studios, its team size, and how it will handle the labor of Fate of the Old Republic's development. Hudson told Bloomberg "We really want to avoid having hundreds and hundreds of people," as he explained the colossal team sizes at BioWare proved to be detrimental while he was there.
In order to get Arcanaut assistance when and where it's needed, Hudson noted that the developer will partner and work with contractors for support. This has become an increasingly common approach in recent years, so it's not surprising that Arcanaut is taking it.
His firm stance against AI is noteworthy at a time when various different game developers have stirred up a controversy by experimenting with the technology, with Baldur's Gate 3 dev Larian facing blowback for using it while making Divinity and later stopping, ARC Raiders using AI voice lines before replacing them, and Crimson Desert launching with AI-generated art in it that was removed.
There's also NVIDIA DLSS 5, the latest version of the firm's upscaling and performance improving "Super Resolution" tech that's coming later this year. DLSS 5 uses AI in an effort to enhance games with "photorealistic lighting and materials," though it was widely panned for looking like an uncanny AI slop filter when it was revealed during GDC.
I'll concede that AI has its use cases for things like organization and such, but I don't want to see it anywhere near the actual content of a game, and I'm happy that Hudson feels the same way about Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic.
Are you glad to hear that Arcanaut Studios isn't planning to use AI in Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic? Share your thoughts in the comments, and let me know how you feel about the game overall in our poll.
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