Crafton acknowledged that the Project Windless team is not using gen-AI for “content creation or narrative elements.”
Last night, Crafton announced Project Windless, an open-world PlayStation 5 game based on the acclaimed series of Korean high fantasy novels known as The Bird Who Drinks Tears.
As soon as the trailer was released at last night’s PlayStation State of Play, many began to wonder if generative AI was used during development. So I decided to go to the source and find out. The Project Windless team used AI “internally during the exploration phase” to increase efficiency, but this will not be a “core, player-facing feature” of the upcoming game.
“Krafton’s studio operates with a high degree of creative independence, allowing each team to choose the tools and methodologies that best suit their projects,” a Krafton spokesperson told Eurogamer.
“With Project Windless, the Montreal team is taking a traditional craftsmanship-driven approach to single-player development. The team primarily uses AI internally in the exploration phase to support iteration and efficiency, rather than as a core player-facing feature of the game.
“Project Windless uses traditional game AI systems to control NPC behavior and bring the world and its characters to life beyond combat. These systems control how characters react, move, and behave within their environments. We do not use generative AI for content creation or narrative elements.”
So that’s it.
Of course, you don’t need me to tell you how hot a topic AI is these days, but many studios say they use it during development. Most notably in recent months, Larian came under fire when founder Swen Vincke suggested the Divinity team was using gen-AI to develop concept art.
In response to the backlash to this statement, Vincke said that “to ensure the absence of any doubt,” Larian has decided to “refrain from using gen-AI tools during concept art development” in future games.
“Then you won’t be able to argue about the origins of art,” Vincke said in January.
Meanwhile, for more from last night, check out Connor’s handy roundup of everything announced at PlayStation State of Play.
