Employees are “more or less OK with the way we’re using it”.
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Larian is using generative AI as part of its game development process, but CEO Swen Vincke has confirmed the studio’s new Divinity game won’t include anything AI-generated.
Vincke discussed the topic of AI with Bloomberg, following the announcement last week at The Game Awards of its new Divinity game. It’s the studio’s next project following the hugely successful Baldur’s Gate 3, which was a particularly expansive game.
As such, the studio is looking to AI with its follow-up, but Vincke confirmed it hasn’t massively improved efficiency. Larian uses AI tools to explore ideas, expand on internal presentations, develop concept art, and write placeholder text, Bloomberg reported.
In Divinity, then, “everything is human actors; we’re writing everything ourselves,” said Vincke.
And while the use of AI has led to some pushback internally, Vincke believes “at this point everyone at the company is more or less OK with the way we’re using it.”
Larian is aiming to cut down on development time for Divinity, to complete production in less time than Baldur’s Gate 3. AI is one potential tool, while another is developing Divinity’s quest and storylines in parallel rather than linearly. The studio is also growing in size.
“I think a lot of founders have the same problem,” said Vincke. “I have to be large, otherwise I can’t make my video game. With growth suddenly comes a whole bunch of responsibilities that you didn’t necessarily think you were ever gonna have, but you have them and then you make the best of them. Size exposes you to new problems that you couldn’t imagine existed.”
Back at GDC last year, Vincke discussed the topic of AI with Eurogamer. “So, we certainly don’t see it as a replacement for developers,” he said. “But we do see it as something that allows us to do more stuff.”
He continued: “I do see it as an additional tool that you can put on top of the things that are in the game. And we’re certainly doing experiments with that. But as I said, it’s still far from being usable in that sense.”
In the same Bloomberg interview, Vincke declared Larian’s forthcoming Divinity game as “us unleashed”, confirming it will be a turn-based RPG.
Earlier this week, a current gen upgrade was released for Larian’s previous game Divinity: Original Sin 2, available now on Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
