Every day, the gaming industry wakes up to a fresh new hell.
Today, that hell is brought to you by Ubisoft, a publisher known for recent smash hits like XDefiant, Skull and Bones, Star Wars Outlaws, and the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Now imagine those games, but instead of playing with a friend, you get to play with a voice-controlled AI.
I’m not sure who asked for this, but it’s happening all across the industry, whether anyone likes it or not. This latest Ubisoft endeavor is called Teammates, described as “an AI-driven research project exploring how new tech can deepen the player experience.” Its goal is to add “depth to gameplay by going beyond AI chatbots and turning NPCs into real teammates.”
In the blog, Ubisoft said it’s “aware of the criticisms around AI in games,” and the company’s goal “is not to replace creatives, but rather to find ways to enhance it by combining the strengths of the technology and the human creativity and ingenuity that are crucial to making games.”
“At first, I had the same concerns as many others,” said Ubisoft narrative director Virginie Mosser. “But I discovered that it’s the exact opposite of removing the human from the process. I still write the story and character personalities, but instead of fixed lines, we create these kinds of fences that let NPCs improvise within the world but stay within the boundaries of the lore and motivations we have given them. They can improvise, but we still set the rules and direct the story and characters.”
It sounds like a suped-up version of Fortnite’s AI-powered Darth Vader, which went about as poorly as you would expect when it was available earlier this year. This Ubisoft variant uses AI NPCs named Sofia and Pablo.
“An early scenario introduces players to the core mechanic: command through voice,” Ubisoft said of what it’s working on. “In the introduction part of the experience, players encounter two enemies on patrol but have not yet been provided with a weapon. With only two armed teammates at their side, it is necessary to direct Sofia and Pablo to use environmental cover, then give specific instructions on when, how, and who to attack. The player’s voice has a strong impact, defining how Teammates react and the outcome of the battle.”
I’m really not sure what to think anymore. In theory, this sounds like it could be cool, but we know better by now. A good amount of public outcry speaks out against generative AI constantly, but it feels like the world economy is driven by it and thus inevitable. What are we to do? It’s happening whether we want it to or not, and it’ll likely end up in more industry-wide job losses once companies figure out which roles have been made redundant by the latest advancement.
And I’m sorry if I don’t believe any company’s goals of not replacing creatives when it’s already happened and happening across anywhere that AI is being trained. I’d love to believe that this type of tech can be used to enhance games without resulting in layoffs or more AI slop, but my hopes for any of this are rockbottom.
You can check out the full Ubisoft article if you’d like to know more about Teammates.
