What Would AI Created by Game Companies Look Like?

Krafton Virtual Human 'Anna'

"Anna, check if there are enemies at the pinged (designated) spot. Winnie, hand me the Etap (name of a sniper rifle)."

The day of playing ‘PUBG: Battlegrounds’ with artificial intelligence (AI) is coming. In the game Battlegrounds, real-time communication to devise strategies is important, so only real people could be teammates. However, if AI can communicate like humans, it will no longer matter whether teammates are human or AI. Krafton's virtual humans ‘Anna’ and ‘Winnie’ are entering the game.

The global ChatGPT craze is also a hot topic in the gaming industry. Various AI technologies are already being used in games. Blocking users’ abusive language or having non-player characters (NPCs) assign missions to users are broadly considered AI. However, unlike generative AI like ChatGPT, these have clear technical limitations as they are only used within predefined roles.

The emergence of generative AI, which learns from existing data to create new content, is expected to greatly increase AI utilization in games. Domestic game companies are increasing investments in AI research and development. Some companies are already seeing tangible results.

Nexon is developing AI game commentary and AI NPC services through its AI research lab, ‘Intelligence Labs’. AI game commentary means AI analyzes game situations and provides real-time customized commentary. Currently, soccer games play pre-recorded, standardized commentary during gameplay. In the future, AI is expected to enhance game immersion by providing real-time commentary based on gameplay scenes. Nexon is preparing AI commentary services for ‘FIFA Online 4’.

Krafton, which has operated its ‘Deep Learning Headquarters’ since 2021, expanded and reorganized its structure this year to further strengthen AI research. It also presented a blueprint for playing with AI teams.

Changhan Kim, CEO of Krafton, recently said in a conference call, “Applying AI deep learning can break classical gameplay methods,” adding, “In a game for four players, even if a gamer plays alone, AI can create an environment where it communicates in real-time via text and conversation as if playing with three friends.”

Among domestic game companies, NCSoft was the first to adopt AI technology and is researching how to utilize language models like ChatGPT in game production. NCSoft plans to use language models for story and character creation.

AI technology is also expected to significantly contribute to reducing game development costs and time. This is good news for game companies facing both developer shortages and labor cost burdens. Major games require at least hundreds of millions of won and 2 to 3 years to develop, all created manually by humans.

Currently, AI that provides human-level graphic creations by inputting specific keywords is already commercialized. AI that assists with simple coloring is already in use in many places. Although ChatGPT’s completeness is limited, it can input code by itself according to human requests to develop games. The industry expects that with AI technology development, game development time and costs can be reduced by half.