"We would rather cut off our own arms": Indie devs react to Arc Raiders CEO saying people should assume everyone's using generative AI these days

(Image credit: Embark Studios)

A number of indie developers are sharing sharp rebukes to the CEO of Arc Raiders studio Embark's parent company Nexon saying we should "assume that every game company is now using AI."

In case you missed it, Nexon CEO Junghun Lee recently told GameSpark, with translation from Automaton, that "it's important to assume that every game company is now using AI." It's important to note that Embark itself has freely admitted to using AI text-to-speech (TTS) in both The Finals and Arc Raiders dialogue, but it's equally crucial to contextualize Lee's words.

Lee followed up his assertion that everyone's using generative AI by stressing the importance of human creativity in games as a way to stand out from the AI slop. "If everyone is working with the same or similar technologies, the real question becomes: how do you survive?" Lee said. "I believe it's important to choose a strategy that increases your competitiveness." Lee then said he chooses "human creativity."

Hello, not only do we not use AI we would rather cut off our own arms than do so. Demonschool is 100% human made.
— @necrosoftgames.com (@necrosoftgames.com.bsky.social) 2025-11-12T19:45:34.371Z

"I'm happy to confirm Rogue Eclipse is AI FREE and in fact NOT USED as a part of our process AT ALL!," reads a response from Rogue Eclipse developer Huskrafts. "We discourage the use and have ANTI AI USAGE clauses in our agreements!"

I'm happy to confirm Rogue Eclipse is AI FREE and in fact NOT USED as a part of our process AT ALL! We discourage the use and have ANTI AI USAGE clauses in our agreements!
— @mcdoogleh.bsky.social (@mcdoogleh.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-11-12T19:45:34.308Z

"We don't use Ai in our games. Ai isn't and hasn't ever been needed to make a good game and CEOs like this don't know what the fuck they are talking about," said Neil Jones, whose studio Aerial Knight released Never Yield in 2021. "They just want to slowly take humans out of the process thinking they can just hit and button and it'll print money."

We don't use Ai in our games. Ai isn't and hasn't ever been needed been needed to make a good game and CEOs like this don't know what the fuck they are talking about. They just want to slowly take humans out of the process thinking they can just hit and button and it'll print money.
— @aerialknight.com (@aerialknight.com.bsky.social) 2025-11-12T19:45:34.235Z

"We don't use generative AI at Strange Scaffold and I can confirm that a *lot* of other studios are not—whether indie or AAA," said Strange Scaffold founder Xalavier Nelson Jr. "Get outta here with this normalization bullshit."

We don’t use generative AI at Strange Scaffold and I can confirm that a *lot* of other studios are not—whether indie or AAA. Get outta here with this normalization bullshit.
— @writnelson.bsky.social (@writnelson.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-11-12T19:45:34.401Z

"As long as I breathe air, Artificium will never use the slop machine," said Artificium Games founder Katie Arnold.

As long as I breathe air, Artificium will never use the slop machine
— @kitathanatosdev.bsky.social (@kitathanatosdev.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-11-12T19:45:34.271Z

You get the idea. Again, not that I love having to defend CEOs, but I really didn't get a defeatist, deal with it vibe from Lee, and it sounds more like he was advocating for human creativity over AI, but indie developers have seized the moment to make a powerful statement about the hopefully evergreen viability of human, and human only, created art.

Meanwhile, Arc Raiders improves duo matchmaking and is reducing some cosmetic prices after backlash, with players to receive compensation if they already spent their hard-earned Raider Tokens.