Square Enix President Says They Will Be 'Aggressive' in Greater Use of AI Technology in Content Crea

System · January 4

Square Enix President Says They Will Be 'Aggressive' in Greater Use of AI Technology in Content Creation | MMORPG.com

Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu says the company will be "aggressive" in using generative AI technology to create content, emphasizing content creation and streaming

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Angrakhan · January 4

This unfortunately is the way of the future. These guys are just being honest about it but I promise you everyone is looking into generative AI and what it can do to reduce cost via reducing head count. I started playing with ChatGPT and while it can't replace my job yet it can for sure automate tedious tasks. I foresee AI getting baked into developers IDEs to automate a lot of tedious workflow stuff. Stuff like asking it to build a data entry screen in your UI framework of choice based upon a json structure using some already existing screen in the app as a reference for standards and best practices. When it will actually replace developers I don't know but it's coming. Concept artists can already pretty much start looking for a different line of work. I think they can still do art professionally but it will be doing specific pieces for people who appreciate actual art from a human. Same thing with musicians. No one wants to go to a show and listen to a computer improvise music on the fly like a jukebox. They want to see people on stage. The days of hiring musicians for games are numbered, though.

ShinyFlygon · January 4

Specifically regarding voiceovers, my feeling is that they are overused in games anyway. You don't need to voice every single line of dialogue, especially when the scene isn't dramatic or interesting.

So it would be even better if they chose to cut costs by eliminating V.O. entirely, not shifting to A.I. voices. I absolutely HATE all the YouTube content that has been voiced by machines, not because it puts people out of work but because the sound is annoying. A.I. has yet to bridge that uncanny valley, and it grates on my nerves.

ValdemarJ · January 4

Bad "Text to Speech" is not AI voicing. I disagree that NPC text chat is better than voiced characters. I like voiceovers and hate reading walls of mediocre text.

ShinyFlygon · January 5

ValdemarJ said:

Bad "Text to Speech" is not AI voicing. I disagree that NPC text chat is better than voiced characters. I like voiceovers and hate reading walls of mediocre text.

You'd rather listen to long stretches of mediocre text, which takes a lot longer? OK, you do you.

Warlyx · January 5

ShinyFlygon said:

. I absolutely HATE all the YouTube content that has been voiced by machines, not because it puts people out of work but because the sound is annoying. A.I. has yet to bridge that uncanny valley, and it grates on my nerves.

thats not AI ,is as old as youtube i think lol

ValdemarJ · January 5

ShinyFlygon said:

ValdemarJ said:

Bad "Text to Speech" is not AI voicing. I disagree that NPC text chat is better than voiced characters. I like voiceovers and hate reading walls of mediocre text.

You'd rather listen to long stretches of mediocre text, which takes a lot longer? OK, you do you.

Lame take. Voiced over text brings out bad dialog writing. A LOT of game text, especially dialog, is excessively wordy an not how dialog is spoken. Text read aloud exposes those awkward pieces. The writing may not end up great, but it can sound more natural.

I actually prefer spoken text with subtitles. And yeah, I'd take mediocre spoken dialog over written text any day. If you're in such a hurry to rush through the dialog, why pay attention to it at all? But you do you, rush clicking through dialog while complaining about voiceovers. Sounds enriching.

Aeander · January 5

Look, Square, you're good at exactly one thing, and that's JRPGs. Just stick to that. And if any of your money men suggest anything else, tell them politely, yet firmly, to sit on a railroad spike and swivel.

Sensai · January 5

ValdemarJ said:

ShinyFlygon said:

ValdemarJ said:

Bad "Text to Speech" is not AI voicing. I disagree that NPC text chat is better than voiced characters. I like voiceovers and hate reading walls of mediocre text.

You'd rather listen to long stretches of mediocre text, which takes a lot longer? OK, you do you.

Lame take. Voiced over text brings out bad dialog writing. A LOT of game text, especially dialog, is excessively wordy an not how dialog is spoken. Text read aloud exposes those awkward pieces. The writing may not end up great, but it can sound more natural.

I actually prefer spoken text with subtitles. And yeah, I'd take mediocre spoken dialog over written text any day. If you're in such a hurry to rush through the dialog, why pay attention to it at all? But you do you, rush clicking through dialog while complaining about voiceovers. Sounds enriching.

Lame take. If you want to be a passive observer, you be you. How much of your voice over quest dialogue is interesting or meaningful, 5%? I think certain events warrant voice overs and cut scenes, but when they are on nearly everything, they're grinding and monotonous. More importantly, they are a huge waste of funds. TESO is the poster child for this, they wasted soooo much money on voice acting that should have been spent on combat/animation, content and networking. You are entitled to your preference but to call someone lame for disagreeing with your love of auditory stimulation is, well, lame.

Sovrath · January 5

Sensai said:

Lame take. If you want to be a passive observer, you be you. How much of your voice over quest dialogue is interesting or meaningful, 5%? I think certain events warrant voice overs and cut scenes, but when they are on nearly everything, they're grinding and monotonous. More importantly, they are a huge waste of funds. TESO is the poster child for this, they wasted soooo much money on voice acting that should have been spent on combat/animation, content and networking. You are entitled to your preference but to call someone lame for disagreeing with your love of auditory stimulation is, well, lame.

You’re not correct in your thinking.

First, cutting a feature doesn’t automatically make the funds available for other features. They budget what they need for various parts of a game. They already budgeted for combat/animation and they made the combat/animations they wanted.

Second, taking in dialogue is not a passive activity. Now “your” mind might shut off or become passive (I doubt it), but for others they are actively thinking during voiced dialogue.

I guess you both are the think it’s a “lame take.”

Sensai · January 5

Sovrath said:

Sensai said:

Lame take. If you want to be a passive observer, you be you. How much of your voice over quest dialogue is interesting or meaningful, 5%? I think certain events warrant voice overs and cut scenes, but when they are on nearly everything, they're grinding and monotonous. More importantly, they are a huge waste of funds. TESO is the poster child for this, they wasted soooo much money on voice acting that should have been spent on combat/animation, content and networking. You are entitled to your preference but to call someone lame for disagreeing with your love of auditory stimulation is, well, lame.

You’re not correct in your thinking.

First, cutting a feature doesn’t automatically make the funds available for other features. They budget what they need for various parts of a game. They already budgeted for combat/animation and they made the combat/animations they wanted.

Second, taking in dialogue is not a passive activity. Now “your” mind might shut off or become passive (I doubt it), but for others they are actively thinking during voiced dialogue.

I guess you both are the think it’s a “lame take.”

Yes, it's just a matter of budgeting because money is unlimited. Do you honestly believe what you typed? The project had $X dollars in funding and allocated it. They CHOSE to allocate, or budget if you prefer, what they did to voice acting. Now maybe, just maybe, there was someone in charge that said if they didn't spend the money on voice acting that the funds wouldn't be available for anything else, but that is highly, highly unlikely.

If letting words flow through your ear hole and acknowledging them is active for you, so be it. I think most people can listen to something without expending a whole lot of energy or brain power, but perhaps that doesn't apply to you. I play games to . . . play. If I want to listen to something, I have audiobooks and podcasts for that and I'm always doing something while I'm doing that too. While it sounds like you may limited to one task at a time, that isn't true of others. So enjoy your MMOAB that comes at the expense of a better gaming experience.

Sovrath · January 5

Sensai said:

Sovrath said:

Sensai said:

Lame take. If you want to be a passive observer, you be you. How much of your voice over quest dialogue is interesting or meaningful, 5%? I think certain events warrant voice overs and cut scenes, but when they are on nearly everything, they're grinding and monotonous. More importantly, they are a huge waste of funds. TESO is the poster child for this, they wasted soooo much money on voice acting that should have been spent on combat/animation, content and networking. You are entitled to your preference but to call someone lame for disagreeing with your love of auditory stimulation is, well, lame.

You’re not correct in your thinking.

First, cutting a feature doesn’t automatically make the funds available for other features. They budget what they need for various parts of a game. They already budgeted for combat/animation and they made the combat/animations they wanted.

Second, taking in dialogue is not a passive activity. Now “your” mind might shut off or become passive (I doubt it), but for others they are actively thinking during voiced dialogue.

I guess you both are the think it’s a “lame take.”

Yes, it's just a matter of budgeting because money is unlimited. Do you honestly believe what you typed? The project had $X dollars in funding and allocated it. They CHOSE to allocate, or budget if you prefer, what they did to voice acting. Now maybe, just maybe, there was someone in charge that said if they didn't spend the money on voice acting that the funds wouldn't be available for anything else, but that is highly, highly unlikely.

If letting words flow through your ear hole and acknowledging them is active for you, so be it. I think most people can listen to something without expending a whole lot of energy or brain power, but perhaps that doesn't apply to you. I play games to . . . play. If I want to listen to something, I have audiobooks and podcasts for that and I'm always doing something while I'm doing that too. While it sounds like you may limited to one task at a time, that isn't true of others. So enjoy your MMOAB that comes at the expense of a better gaming experience.

You’re not thinking.

They did not take a limited pot of money and divide it up. They looked at what they needed for each part and created a budget.

Sure, if this was a small company they might try that. But a very large company creates the budget based off what is needed for the project.

At least in my experience.

Also listening to words is engaging not taxing.

ValdemarJ · January 6

Sovrath said:

Sensai said:

Lame take. If you want to be a passive observer, you be you. How much of your voice over quest dialogue is interesting or meaningful, 5%? I think certain events warrant voice overs and cut scenes, but when they are on nearly everything, they're grinding and monotonous. More importantly, they are a huge waste of funds. TESO is the poster child for this, they wasted soooo much money on voice acting that should have been spent on combat/animation, content and networking. You are entitled to your preference but to call someone lame for disagreeing with your love of auditory stimulation is, well, lame.

You’re not correct in your thinking.

First, cutting a feature doesn’t automatically make the funds available for other features. They budget what they need for various parts of a game. They already budgeted for combat/animation and they made the combat/animations they wanted.

Second, taking in dialogue is not a passive activity. Now “your” mind might shut off or become passive (I doubt it), but for others they are actively thinking during voiced dialogue.

I guess you both are the think it’s a “lame take.”

I call the criticisms as lame so far because they amount to the poster not liking AI tools based on a made up worst case scenario with a conclusion being AI shouldn't be used at all. They're all irrational arguments based on fear or conjecture.

The budget argument is an irrelevant red herring anyway and has nothing to do with the original article premise or the context of the discussion about whether people prefer voiced narration or reading text. But, even if it were relevant it's a bad premise because AI is used to improve the efficiency and quality of workers, which translates into budget savings compared to the traditional method.

This is the cotton gin or digital photography/art all over again. Some people still do things the old way for the joy of the process, but most every other business wants to use technology that improves efficiency and productivity. Instead of holing up in a reactionary manner, clinging to the past, we should be working on responsible ways to develop and use this technology.

ZenJelly · January 6

Good.

Theocritus · January 6

"TESO is the poster child for this, they wasted soooo much money on voice acting that should have been spent on combat/animation, content and networking."

Not only that but it makes the downloads 10x more than they should be......Last time I downloaded ESO it was already well over 100G, I cant imagine what it is now....I have no interest in voiceovers and cutscenes...They are a waste of my time usually, and I skip if at all possible...I just dont need them.

Scot · January 6

Whether we like it or not, whether it makes for better games or not, it is coming down the line faster than Chris Roberts can make his next half a billion.

Quizzical · January 7

This isn't just a way to make game development cheaper. AI generated content brings the potential for games to have enormous amounts of content. The question is whether you can make that content good enough and varied enough to be interesting.

Ginaz · January 7

Sensai said:

Sovrath said:

Sensai said:

Lame take. If you want to be a passive observer, you be you. How much of your voice over quest dialogue is interesting or meaningful, 5%? I think certain events warrant voice overs and cut scenes, but when they are on nearly everything, they're grinding and monotonous. More importantly, they are a huge waste of funds. TESO is the poster child for this, they wasted soooo much money on voice acting that should have been spent on combat/animation, content and networking. You are entitled to your preference but to call someone lame for disagreeing with your love of auditory stimulation is, well, lame.

You’re not correct in your thinking.

First, cutting a feature doesn’t automatically make the funds available for other features. They budget what they need for various parts of a game. They already budgeted for combat/animation and they made the combat/animations they wanted.

Second, taking in dialogue is not a passive activity. Now “your” mind might shut off or become passive (I doubt it), but for others they are actively thinking during voiced dialogue.

I guess you both are the think it’s a “lame take.”

Yes, it's just a matter of budgeting because money is unlimited. Do you honestly believe what you typed? The project had $X dollars in funding and allocated it. They CHOSE to allocate, or budget if you prefer, what they did to voice acting. Now maybe, just maybe, there was someone in charge that said if they didn't spend the money on voice acting that the funds wouldn't be available for anything else, but that is highly, highly unlikely.

If letting words flow through your ear hole and acknowledging them is active for you, so be it. I think most people can listen to something without expending a whole lot of energy or brain power, but perhaps that doesn't apply to you. I play games to . . . play. If I want to listen to something, I have audiobooks and podcasts for that and I'm always doing something while I'm doing that too. While it sounds like you may limited to one task at a time, that isn't true of others. So enjoy your MMOAB that comes at the expense of a better gaming experience.

After playing Baldur's Gate 3 and Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader, I can tell you I much prefer voice overs than reading text. I liked both games, but not having every dialogue being voiced was a very noticeable difference between two games of the same genre. I probably would have enjoyed Rogue Trader a lot more if all lines of dialogue were voiced like BG3.

Scot · January 7

Quizzical said:

This isn't just a way to make game development cheaper. AI generated content brings the potential for games to have enormous amounts of content. The question is whether you can make that content good enough and varied enough to be interesting.

The AI content will be supervised by a human, so in some ways the quality of the human is still what counts. If you employ someone who does not know epic writing/story/lore if it fell on him, then you are going to end up with him giving a tick to rubbish.

Sensai · January 7

Ginaz said:

Sensai said:

Sovrath said:

Sensai said:

Lame take. If you want to be a passive observer, you be you. How much of your voice over quest dialogue is interesting or meaningful, 5%? I think certain events warrant voice overs and cut scenes, but when they are on nearly everything, they're grinding and monotonous. More importantly, they are a huge waste of funds. TESO is the poster child for this, they wasted soooo much money on voice acting that should have been spent on combat/animation, content and networking. You are entitled to your preference but to call someone lame for disagreeing with your love of auditory stimulation is, well, lame.

You’re not correct in your thinking.

First, cutting a feature doesn’t automatically make the funds available for other features. They budget what they need for various parts of a game. They already budgeted for combat/animation and they made the combat/animations they wanted.

Second, taking in dialogue is not a passive activity. Now “your” mind might shut off or become passive (I doubt it), but for others they are actively thinking during voiced dialogue.

I guess you both are the think it’s a “lame take.”

Yes, it's just a matter of budgeting because money is unlimited. Do you honestly believe what you typed? The project had $X dollars in funding and allocated it. They CHOSE to allocate, or budget if you prefer, what they did to voice acting. Now maybe, just maybe, there was someone in charge that said if they didn't spend the money on voice acting that the funds wouldn't be available for anything else, but that is highly, highly unlikely.

If letting words flow through your ear hole and acknowledging them is active for you, so be it. I think most people can listen to something without expending a whole lot of energy or brain power, but perhaps that doesn't apply to you. I play games to . . . play. If I want to listen to something, I have audiobooks and podcasts for that and I'm always doing something while I'm doing that too. While it sounds like you may limited to one task at a time, that isn't true of others. So enjoy your MMOAB that comes at the expense of a better gaming experience.

After playing Baldur's Gate 3 and Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader, I can tell you I much prefer voice overs than reading text. I liked both games, but not having every dialogue being voiced was a very noticeable difference between two games of the same genre. I probably would have enjoyed Rogue Trader a lot more if all lines of dialogue were voiced like BG3.

Agreed. The voice overs in BG3 were pretty much right on point and felt natural. But BG3 is primarily a single player game in a different genre where the story telling is central to the game. I think it's an entirely different discussion when talking about MMOs and more importantly MMORPGs, particularly in terms of design focus and cost.

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Square Enix President Says They Will Be 'Aggressive' in Greater Use of AI Technology in Content Crea

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Square Enix President Says They Will Be 'Aggressive' in Greater Use of AI Technology in Content Crea

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