As AI is often seen as a way to speed up certain aspects of game development, and Casey Hudson wants Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic out before 2030, perhaps you'd think he may consider using the technology. Definitely not, as Hudson doesn't believe it can offer him anything helpful in making the game he wants to create.
"I just find AI to be creatively soulless. It's hard to imagine where it's actually helpful in the process. I'm just really unimpressed with it," he tells Bloomberg in a recent interview. It does seem like Hudson will be able to keep his no-AI promise, as it appears he's given a lot of control over this project.
Star Wars: FOTOR will be funded by GreaterThan Group, a new company founded by former NetEase executive Simon Zhu, who has secured around $100 million in funding from various investors. Hudson has also brought a bunch of old BioWare veterans on board, including Ryan Hoyle, Caroline Livingstone, and Dan Fessenden. Zhu's vision with GreaterThan Group is to secure a different future from the one we're seeing today with new tech focuses and developers getting laid off every five minutes.
"You can have player satisfaction, you can have commercial success. You can have the achievement of art. You don't need to compromise or sacrifice one thing for the other. Let's give the best creator the opportunity to work on a dream project. Everyone wins...The industry treats developers so badly. I think there should always be a rebalancing force treating developers better."
So, no AI for FOTOR and it's back by a company that seems to care about game developers? Sounds a bit too good to be true for me, but maybe I'm just jaded by the modern industry.
