Nexon CEO: It's vital to imagine that each sport firm is now utilizing AI – Recreation Developer

The comment comes amidst widespread criticism of Arc Raiders, printed by Nexon, for its use of procedural and AI-based instruments in content material creation.
November 13, 2025
Talking to Japanese publication GameSpark, Nexon CEO Junghun Lee mentioned that he thinks "it's vital to imagine that each sport firm is now utilizing AI."
This was within the context of being requested in regards to the influence of generative AI know-how with reference to Nexon's future tasks—a tech which sport builders are nonetheless not warming up to, and a few of them have gotten more and more nervous that it will lower the quality of games.
Translated by Automaton, Lee mentioned that "AI has undoubtedly improved effectivity in each sport manufacturing and dwell service operations," resulting in the non-public consideration that the "common" high quality degree of video games is on the rise due to it.
But, returning to the belief that everyone is on board with the gen AI prepare, the CEO wonders how studios can stand out amid that competitors.
"If everyone seems to be working with the identical or related applied sciences, the actual query turns into: how do you survive? I consider it’s vital to decide on a technique that will increase your competitiveness," he mentioned.
To Lee, the technique is "human creativity."
Whereas the CEO was speaking about future Nexon tasks, it's unclear how or through which capability AI will likely be applied through the sport improvement course of. In 2017, the corporate launched Intelligence Labs, an in-house AI analysis and improvement crew, which will help paint an image.
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Through The Korea Herald, Intelligence Labs has used machine studying and deep studying to "give you extra participating and immersive video games," spearheaded by a crew of round 700 engineers that’s now "zeroing in on generative synthetic intelligence analysis to create unique, personalised content material for gamers."
In a extra sensible instance, the crew publicly launched Gamescale in April 2023, which provides a sport matchmaking algorithm primarily based on consumer preferences and playstyles, posing an alternative choice to skill-based matchmaking.
Different instruments embrace the Nexon Voice Creator, a text-to-speech system that creates voices in numerous accents and pitches for nonplayer characters with out separate recordings. The crew has additionally been testing the "AI NPC" perform, permitting NPCs to "straight talk with customers past a single script." As famous by The Korea Herald, this opens the potential for creating "false, biased, discriminatory, and abusive remarks." To this, Intelligence Labs mentioned it's dedicated to "placing effort into constructing moral tips for reliable AI in gaming."
Lee's feedback on using AI on the firm came about amid a wave of criticism round Arc Raiders, the extraction shooter developed by Embark Studios and printed by Nexon. Over on the sport's Steam page, the studio has an AI-generated content material disclosure, which states the next: "In the course of the improvement course of, we might use procedural-and AI-based instruments to help with content material creation. In all such instances, the ultimate product displays the creativity and expression of our personal improvement crew."
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Talking to PCGamesN, Arc Raiders design director Virgil Watkins mentioned the sport "under no circumstances makes use of generative AI in anyway," including that there’s "one thing known as machine studying, or reinforcement studying, and that's to do with the locomotion for our bigger drones with a number of legs," however remarked that there's "no generative content material in anyway."
That being mentioned, the text-to-speech system current in The Finals, additionally from Embark, which is a speech instrument that generates audio voice traces for in-game commentators, is utilized in Arc Raiders as nicely.
"As [you] acknowledged, [it's] the identical as The Finals, we use that text-to-speech mannequin. That’s, we rent and contract voice actors for it—it's a part of their contract that we use it [AI] for this goal, and that enables us to do issues like our ping system, the place it's able to saying each single merchandise title, each single location title, and compass instructions. That's how we are able to get that with no need to have somebody are available in each time we create a brand new merchandise for the sport," Watkins informed PCGamesN.
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In an interview with Eurogamer, Embark CCO Stefan Strandberg mentioned the studio makes use of "AI as instruments to help in some content material creation, but it surely's at all times within the context of creativity, as an expression of the crew."
Elaborating on the text-to-speech mannequin particularly, Strandberg mentioned that the instrument permits the crew to "improve the scope of the sport in some areas" the place Embark thinks it's wanted, or the place there's "tedious repetition" in conditions the place voice actors "might not see it as invaluable work."
The CCO's justification, then, is that these instruments are permitting smaller groups to scale their operations. "We began this studio with a large set of procedural instruments in relation to world constructing, and we wouldn't be wherever close to the place we’re at this time with out these investments," he mentioned."
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Diego Argüello
Contributing Editor, Information, GameDeveloper.com
Diego Nicolás Argüello is a contract journalist and critic from Argentina. Video video games helped him to be taught English, so now he covers them for locations like The New York Instances, NPR, Rolling Stone, and extra. He additionally runs Into the Backbone, a website devoted to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast in regards to the Ace Legal professional sequence. He’s most certainly enjoying a rhythm sport as you learn this.
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