In an interview that took place during the gamescom 2024, Christoph Hartmann, Vice President at Amazon Games (New World, Lost Ark), spoke about the use of AI in games.
What does Christoph Hartmann say? The head of Amazon’s game studios has great hopes for the use of artificial intelligence in game development for several reasons:
- The gaming industry faces a difficult challenge. In order to compete with competitors for people’s leisure time (like TikTok and various streaming services), developers need to be bold and try new things.
- At the same time, game development is becoming increasingly expensive, making risks extremely risky. And developing a game is already a risk or gamble because one spends more and more years on a project and has to predict what the zeitgeist will look like in five or six years.
- According to Hartmann, the use of AI can significantly reduce the duration of game developments, thereby lowering costs and allowing more products to be completed in the same time frame.
- Additionally, shorter development phases and lower costs should make it possible to focus more on innovation and risk again.
This year, an important launch for Amazon Games is still upcoming with New World Aeternum:
“This explains the quality of their game stories”
How does Christoph Hartmann assess the potential dangers of AI? In the next part of the interview, which you can find on IGN, the Vice President is asked about the strike of the SAG-AFTRA actors’ union, which demands agreements to protect actors and voice actors in video games from artificial intelligence (via tagesspiegel.de).
Christoph Hartmann first emphasizes that he has to be careful with statements on the topic, as Amazon Games is constantly dealing with the organizations involved in the strike. Nevertheless, he seems not to share the concerns of the actors and voice actors.
When we talk about the use of AI, we hope first and foremost that it helps us develop new game ideas, which has nothing to do with taking someone’s job away. And specifically for games, we don’t really have actors… most of the team is working in programming, and that will remain the case because this is about innovation.
Christoph Hartmann via IGN
According to Hartmann, AI should mainly be used where it comes to tedious tasks. He cites localization, i.e., the translation of all texts into different languages, as an example. This is labor-intensive and studios always have to question whether the translation into certain languages will be economically viable. AI can significantly help expand the target audiences.
How does the community react to the statements? Under the interview and on platforms like Reddit, the statements of the Amazon Games chief are not received very well.
- grizzlyfoxcat writes on IGN something like: “So he’s saying that acting is a boring, artless task that can be replaced by AI. He has no idea what kind of talent is needed to develop a game; he’s just another executive issuing orders based on numbers.”
- LordofDarkness42 comments on Reddit: “This honestly explains the quality of their game stories. If the higher-ups think so little of voice acting, I can’t imagine that the writers receive much attention either.”
- Sloafuge echoes on Reddit: “I think this speaks volumes about the quality level we should expect from Amazon Games.”
- pmmeyourdoubt has an alternative idea for the use of AI (via Reddit): “Honestly, an AI would do a better job in his position. Replace him.”
Assessment of the MMORPG expert from MeinMMO
How does MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz evaluate the situation? I truly believe that there are areas in game development (especially in smaller and medium-sized studios) that can benefit from the use of AI. Many activities primarily involve hard work and little creativity.
Minimizing these tasks to improve quality in the creative areas, shorten development times, and improve working conditions (keyword: less crunch) would definitely be a good thing.
However, the claim that “you don’t really need actors for game development” is false in my opinion. A “The Last of Us 2” or “Baldur’s Gate 3” would never be as good without the outstanding performances of the actors and voice actors.
Or just listen to how much passion and joy the German voice actor Vinvent Fallow brings to the character Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy XVI. This, in my view, is material that no AI in the world could ever replicate.
How do you see it?
By the way, Christoph Hartmann also talked in the interview about the studio’s current MMORPGs, New World and Lost Ark, as well as upcoming projects like the Lord of the Rings online RPG, for which they are still looking for the special twist. More on this here: There is a sign of life from the new MMORPG for the Lord of the Rings from Amazon Games
