Leonard Boyarsky, game director behind The Outer Worlds and The Outer Worlds 2, used to think AI was a decent idea in video game writing – but it's clear he definitely no longer feels that way about the controversial technology.
Back in 2019, Boyarsky, Fallout co-creator and mastermind behind other RPG gems like Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, admitted that Obsidian Entertainment's pursuit of deeper player choices via in-game dialogue might benefit from more budget (which makes a good bit of sense) and, perhaps more surprisingly, the use of artificial intelligence. With the recent rise of generative AI, however, it's safe to say that he's since changed his mind.
He, understandably, figured that AI could produce far more dialogue choices than its human counterparts could even imagine at the time, theorizing that the technology might be trained on hundreds of lines written by people: "The computer could just run with it, and the player could literally say – and not even have a list of things to pick from – but actually say what their responses are and have the computer respond in realtime."
Now, though, Boyarsky tells Game File in an interview that his thoughts on AI six years ago don't reflect how he feels now. He explains they were "literally just me doing a thought experiment," admitting he would love to smack his former self "upside the head" for the comments. The RPG maestro brings one potential problem up as an example – such a system "quickly gets very unwieldy," according to him.
"You would have to have something that was so robust," says Boyarsky, "and I don't even know how you would test it." Has Obsidian explored the employment of AI for its writing at all, then? It seems not. Josh Sawyer, fellow industry veteran and Fallout: New Vegas lead, states, "I don't know anything at studio level, but yeah, it's not something we've used." Game File also reached out to Obsidian Entertainment PR for further comment on the use of AI.
A quick response– one of the fastest that Game File has apparently ever received – reads: "We haven't been using it at all." That's certainly not a bad position to take, especially as AI grows and discussions surrounding it within the gaming industry continue to take off. Legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu recently described how he's "never used AI and probably never will" himself, as it's not rewarding.
Arc Raiders lead Patrick Söderlund also spoke on the matter, stating that games "can't be built by an AI" and "I hope they never can." Motoi Okamoto, Silent Hill series producer, detailed how new Konami title Silent Hill f contains "the kind of bold choices AI would never be able to make" as well. Developers left and right have been sharing their views – and honestly, I'm just glad they seem to all lean in the right direction… Boyarsky's included now.
