The upcoming sci-fi game from former Mass Effect veterans, called Exodus, isn't being made with any sort of generative AI tech for now, though the developer isn't opposed to changing its mind in the future.
Mass Effect veteran Chad Robertson, who's now the co-founder of Exodus studio Archetype, told Eurogamer "we don't have plans to use generative AI for any elements of it, but we reserve the right to change that if things require it to get the game at the quality that we need it, or the timeline or budget that we need."
The topic came up because Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey, who happens to star in Exodus, also has investments in an audio company called Elevenlabs, and he's signed a deal with the firm to let them AI generate his voice in specific situations.
"No, no. Everything that's in Exodus - 100 percent of what's in Exodus - is bespoke VO recording just for us," Robertson clarified. "He has a completely separate deal of his own design that he's worked out with Elevenlabs, which happens to be one of the most prominent, AI voice-generation tools, that is being used by other video game companies. Such that people could leverage his voice in non-bespoke VO sessions in a different way. He has a bunch of really strict rules around how it could be used."
Archetype's involvement with McConaughey is apparently "very specific," and doesn't involve generated voice lines. The McConaughey we hear in the game will seemingly be the McConaughey who showed up in the recording booth. As for the studio's long-term stance on the tech, "we want to be smart technologists, and we want to make great games," Robertson added. "And if for cost reasons or quality reasons, that becomes something that becomes more acceptable and becomes more commonplace, I think we're gonna have to be smart and intelligent about how we adopt it ourselves."
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