Microsoft Bringing AI-Enhanced Game Developer Tools to Xbox

Microsoft is looking to expand its AI endeavors into its gaming arm, as it announced today it is partnering with Inworld AI to create game development tools for Xbox that will allow developers to create AI-enhanced characters and more.

Spotted by The Verge, this multiyear partnership will allow Xbox developers leverage artificial intelligence as part of their game development. Specifically, Inworld AI will leverage this partnership to prioritize development on an AI design copilot as well as the AI character runtime engine, which can be used to create new storylines, among other things.

Inworld AI's character engine should sound familiar to some, as veteran modder Bloc told us in an interview in August that he used the Inworld Character Engine tool to create the AI-powered GTA 5 story mod Sentient Streets before Take-Two shut it down.

[shadowT]

more AI generated empty planets for Starfield!

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Procedurally generated landscapes are not uncommon in open worlds. The Guerrila Games used procedural tech to assist in the creation of the Horizon series ( https://m.youtube.com/watch... )AI could be used to further supplement the work done by developers when creating levels and maps.

[Einhander1972]

You're misrepresenting auto generation with what AI is and does, an how it's being used.

[peppeaccardo]

The Powaaaa of the cloud !!! ... ah No.. scratch that !!!. :P

[Julion0715]

Grow up sir

[Gamingsince1981]

AI can't do any worse a job at making games than MS already, I imagine it will be better at it considering it doesn't think about money first before making its decisions, well unless they put in the prompt to add in as much monetisation as possible.

[Eonjay]

As a developer myself, I am fearful that AI will make devs redundant in the eyes of Publishers.

[Hofstaderman]

Ewwwwww.......

[RAFTECH26]

Another Win. Keep it coming xbox!

[shinoff2183]

How is that a win. The probability of people being cut out of jobs is not a win idc how you look at it.

[RAFTECH26]

Probability?

Why don’t u stick with reality that Sony is the one firing people

[Einhander1972]

Microsoft to fire 10,000 employees including Xbox game developers

https://www.tweaktown.com/n...

Microsoft lays off employees in Xbox, wargame simulation divisions
https://www.washingtonpost....

Microsoft Lays Off Over 600 Employees Across Xbox, Mixed Reality Divisions: Report
https://www.outlookindia.co...

So PlayStation laid off about 10 contractors and Bungie laid off 100 people (not forced by Sony)

But keep in mind that since 2020 PlayStation has hired nearly 500 people across thier gaming and other PlayStation affiliated companies as well as Bungie went from around 900 people to 1100 since they were purchased by PlayStation.

So Microsoft is down around 12000 people and PlayStation is up hundreds.

And Microsoft was laying off people while collecting record profits.

[BeRich233]

Why are you comparing Microsoft to playstation and not xbox to playstation?

[RAFTECH26]

That’s a reach.

Compare Xbox to PlayStation
Not Microsoft to PlayStation

Silly

[raWfodog]

@BeRich and @Raftech,

Not sure if you comprehended what Einhander posted but each of those links they posted included mentions of Xbox layoffs.

[Knightofelemia]

The day the XBox sent a Terminator into the past to kill Sara Connor.

[DarXyde]

While I do believe it can be helpful to reduce the burden placed on developers (giving them more time with family, less crunch, shorten development cycles, and significantly reduced budgets by way of less development time and smaller teams per game to increase output), it has the potential to seriously disrupt livelihoods.

I think the people most at risk here are staff at Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Turn 10, and any expansion heavy titles (Diablo, WoW, StarCraft, and 343i. Anything that is a live service or incremental in its iterations are ripe for minimal effort and maximum returns.

Knowing Microsoft, this will be an amazing move for shareholders and executives, and absolutely horrible for labour. Unfortunately, I suspect a skeleton crew with grave pressure to produce new ideas will be milked, then they'll be replaced by trained AI.

As things take shape, I really believe this is Microsoft's Russian roulette moment in the gaming industry: if they are allowed to fulfill their vision with AI and people don't push back, it's game over. Nevermind publisher absorption, I think we're talking about IPs from other manufacturers. An approach with AI-generated content is undoubtedly the most profitable because you have far fewer mouths to feed. Sony and Nintendo would not be able to compete with that output and breadth of content...or, people push back and boycott their products and the AI dream fails spectacularly, which probably gives Microsoft far less incentive to even want to keep things up (how sustainable is it to have these massive publishers and studios with their games on a subscription service if costs keep ballooning?).

Bit of a defining moment. Might be seen as hyperbolic. That's fine. But there needs to be attention paid to reducing the human burden without pulling the rug out. I do not trust Microsoft at all to be decent about this. I expect them to do something horrific, then after a months-long strike, Spencer comes out and says he didn't know this was going on, and they (might) correct course, followed by a price hike to XGP.

[Flakegriffin]

A strike in the gaming industry is inevitable.

[Games1st]

You can do both with quality standards