[Chip Talk] "Moving and Speaking on Their Own"... Nvidia Shakes Up the Korean Gaming Industry

Characters Move with Generative AI
Nvidia's "ACE" Transforms the Gaming Industry
Krafton and Wemade Introduce ACE in New Titles
Nvidia Sets Its Sights Beyond Gaming, Targeting Humanoid Robots

"The era of digital humans is approaching."

The landscape of the gaming industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation following the release of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software by global semiconductor design company Nvidia. Technologies that go beyond simple graphic computation?such as AI characters that converse with players in real time and backgrounds depicted with near-photorealistic detail?are being rapidly developed, prompting both domestic and international gaming companies to respond swiftly to these changes.

According to the gaming industry on June 16, a growing number of new games are now utilizing Nvidia's AI-based technology, "ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine)," to implement non-player characters (NPCs). Rather than acting solely according to developer-programmed scripts, supporting characters in these games now use generative AI to understand context and respond in real time. By applying this technology, game developers can create AI agents that think, feel, and act like humans within the game world.

Graphic screen of DLSS (AI-based frame generation technology) used as the background for Jensen Huang CEO's keynote speech at Computex 2025 in May this year. Computex capture.

An official from a domestic game company commented, "Many newly developed games are competitively adopting AI implementation methods," adding, "From the user's perspective, this is gaining popularity as a fresh approach that enhances immersion." Recently, there has also been talk in the industry about whether AI technology might threaten the jobs of developers and scenario writers.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang first unveiled ACE at Computex 2023, held in Taipei, Taiwan, in May 2023. Since then, ACE has reappeared as a gaming version at CES 2025, the largest electronics and IT exhibition, solidifying its position as a core technology in AI-powered gaming.

Collaboration with domestic game companies began immediately after its release. At CES 2025, Krafton unveiled a Conversational Player Character (CPC) powered by Nvidia's ACE. CPC is a real-time conversational character based on a Small Language Model (SLM) that responds freely to player input. The key feature is its ability to recognize context and provide independent answers and actions, even in response to unexpected questions or situations not pre-programmed by developers. In March this year, Krafton released "Enjoy," a new simulation game equipped with CPC.

A Krafton representative explained, "The new CPC-based title is so popular that it surpassed one million copies sold even faster than our flagship title, Battlegrounds. While the unique characteristics of each game mean CPC cannot be applied universally, we plan to continue advancing the technology and gradually expand its application."

Wemade is also applying ACE to its new game "Mir 5," which is currently in development and scheduled for release at the end of this year. The company announced that it is co-developing an AI boss character for Mir 5. With the integration of SLM and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), the AI boss is expected to learn users' attack patterns in real time and respond with increasingly sophisticated attacks.

A scene from "Enjoy," a new simulation game released by Krafton in March this year. Krafton.

Nvidia is also leveraging AI technology to enhance graphic quality. The most notable example is Nvidia's AI-based frame generation technology, the "DLSS" series. DLSS enables real-time rendering of high-resolution images while dramatically increasing graphic processing speed, resulting in smoother visuals and high-resolution graphics. This technology was also used to create the high-definition palace graphic background for CEO Huang's keynote speech at Computex 2025 in May this year and at CTC 2025 in January.

Nvidia's DLSS3 was also utilized in "Legend of Ymir," released by Wemade in February. Pearl Abyss recently announced that its upcoming open-world action-adventure game "Crimson Desert" will feature the latest DLSS4 technology.

As the intersection between AI and gaming continues to expand, the overall ecosystem of the gaming industry is undergoing a restructuring. Some analysts suggest that the initiative in content creation is shifting from engine developers and publishers to technology platform companies. Nvidia's "AI game platformization" strategy is thus shaking up the traditional game development paradigm.

However, Nvidia's ambitions extend far beyond game technology development. The company envisions a much broader future, aiming for the creation of fully realized "humanoid robots" that transcend the boundaries of gaming, daily life, and industry. An official from Nvidia Korea explained, "Ultimately, if humanoid robots are developed in the future, it will not be limited to game technology; various technologies will converge. We are continuously developing so that not only simple movements but also thinking and actions can be performed in a human-like manner."