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Larian’s AI Use Has Even Baldur’s Gate 3 Diehards Speaking Out

Larian’s AI Use Has Even Baldur’s Gate 3 Diehards Speaking Out

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Today, Bloomberg posted an interview with Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke in which he explained that the Baldur’s Gate 3 and Divinity developer has started integrating generative AI into its workflow. This is being used for PowerPoint presentations, placeholder text, and concept art, and according to Vincke, “everyone at the company is more or less OK with the way [Larian is] using it.” Despite Vincke’s best efforts to contextualize the ways in which the technology is being used and his promise that no genAI would make its way into the finished product, many fans are not happy, and the statements have generated a massive backlash on social media.

In the past few years, Larian has made a name for itself as a staunchly pro-human game developer. Baldur’s Gate 3 won Game of the Year at the Game Awards, and Vincke himself gave an impassioned speech at the 2024 ceremony about how future GOTY winners would be games that didn’t “treat their developers like numbers on a spreadsheet” and would be made by people who “knew that if you put the game and the team first, the revenue will follow.” So, as you can expect, hearing that the studio has started using AI to generate concept art and ideas has felt to some like a mask drop moment for a studio that has been so publicly supportive of human creativity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvRm4HKK4gQ

Vincke went on to clarify his comments in a statement to IGN, saying this technology is meant to be “additive to a creative team or individual’s workflow, not a replacement for their skill or craft.” He also doubled down on his assertion that Larian will not include generated assets in its upcoming turn-based RPG Divinity when it launches in a few years. But even if Vincke says the final product won’t have anything produced by AI in it, the fact that this technology is being integrated at a studio whose greatest accomplishments have come from human creativity is worrying to many, and has brought some folks’ excitement for Divinity to a screeching halt just days after its announcement at last week’s Game Awards.

 

Even if Vincke claims developers are chill with this, reactions from ex-Larian employees suggest otherwise, with some saying the implementation of AI was a major morale hit for them during their time at the studio. Even some people currently at the studio have been publicly denouncing using AI for even the smallest parts of game development as recently as yesterday.

Baldur’s Gate 3 deserved all the praise and sales it earned in 2023 and in the two years since, and it was all thanks to the hard work and creativity of its developers. Now, some fans are unsure if they will support the studio moving forward, as they say they can’t trust that Larian’s generative AI use starts and ends at PowerPoint presentations. After the loud backlash, Vincke has once again released a statement on his X account saying that Larian “hired creatives for their talent, not for their ability to do what a machine suggests, but they can experiment with these tools to make their lives easier.” We’ve reached out to Larian for further comment and will update the story if we hear back.





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