Nexon CEO: It's essential to imagine that each recreation 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
Chatting with Japanese publication GameSpark, Nexon CEO Junghun Lee mentioned that he thinks "it's essential to imagine that each recreation firm is now utilizing AI."
This was within the context of being requested in regards to the affect of generative AI know-how with reference to Nexon's future tasks—a tech which recreation builders are nonetheless not warming up to, and a few of them have gotten more and more frightened that it will lower the quality of games.
Translated by Automaton, Lee mentioned that "AI has undoubtedly improved effectivity in each recreation manufacturing and reside service operations," resulting in the non-public consideration that the "common" high quality degree of video games is on the rise because of it.
But, returning to the idea 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 comparable applied sciences, the true query turns into: how do you survive? I consider it’s essential 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 wherein capability AI can be applied in the course of the recreation growth course of. In 2017, the corporate launched Intelligence Labs, an in-house AI analysis and growth workforce, which can assist paint an image.
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By way of The Korea Herald, Intelligence Labs has used machine studying and deep studying to "provide you with extra partaking and immersive video games," spearheaded by a workforce 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 workforce publicly launched Gamescale in April 2023, which affords a recreation matchmaking algorithm based mostly on person 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 several accents and pitches for nonplayer characters with out separate recordings. The workforce 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 the usage of AI on the firm occurred amid a wave of criticism round Arc Raiders, the extraction shooter developed by Embark Studios and printed by Nexon. Over on the recreation's Steam page, the studio has an AI-generated content material disclosure, which states the next: "Throughout the growth course of, we could 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 growth workforce."
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Chatting with PCGamesN, Arc Raiders design director Virgil Watkins mentioned the sport "on no account makes use of generative AI by any means," including that there’s "one thing referred to 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 by any means."
That being mentioned, the text-to-speech system current in The Finals, additionally from Embark, which is a speech device that generates audio voice traces for in-game commentators, is utilized in Arc Raiders as properly.
"As [you] said, [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 permits us to do issues like our ping system, the place it's able to saying each single merchandise identify, each single location identify, and compass instructions. That's how we are able to get that without having 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, however it's at all times within the context of creativity, as an expression of the workforce."
Elaborating on the text-to-speech mannequin particularly, Strandberg mentioned that the device permits the workforce 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 "could not see it as useful work."
The CCO's justification, then, is that these instruments are permitting smaller groups to scale their operations. "We began this studio with an enormous set of procedural instruments in terms of world constructing, and we wouldn't be anyplace close to the place we’re right this moment 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 study English, so now he covers them for locations like The New York Occasions, NPR, Rolling Stone, and extra. He additionally runs Into the Backbone, a web site devoted to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast in regards to the Ace Legal professional collection. He’s almost certainly enjoying a rhythm recreation as you learn this.
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