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If there was any remaining doubt about Ubisoft's stance on generative AI following CEO Yves Guillemot's recent comments, the company's new AI companion initiative, Teammates, should lay it out quite clearly. "This work reflects the direction we want to take in the years ahead," Guillemot says of the "generative AI-driven gameplay" pitch.
Teammates, Ubisoft revealed today, is the evolved form of Project Neo NPC, which was shown off last year as a sort of upgraded NPC chatbot hybrid. The idea is to have in-game characters who are more responsive and dynamic, capable of acting in broad ways within defined parameters. "Teammates takes Ubisoft's exploration a step further, testing with players how generative AI-driven gameplay can shape a new generation of more interactive and engaging games," the company says.
These AI companions are said to be capable of "adapting to players' strategies, moods and even personal slang, for an experience that feels unprecedentedly responsive," acting on "real-time voice commands" to "adapt their behavior to each situation, revealing distinct personalities along the way." Shoutout to 2012's Binary Domain, which also had voice-controlled NPCs.
Project narrative director Virginie Mosser says, "Our role is to give AI meaning, to narrativise it, ensuring logic doesn't replace soul. We designed Teammates to leave space for player creativity, finding that balance between emotion and unpredictability." Giving meaning to AI, at a time where many executives and firms are pushing the technology but struggling to find meaningful (let alone profitable) applications for it, is just about the talk of the town. I'm reminded of the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei artist who trained an AI model on his work, but concluded it wasn't worth using.
Ubisoft points to a standout companion among the Teammates lineup: Jaspar, "a personal assistant designed to support players throughout their missions." If you saw the modern Iron Man films featuring AI partner Jarvis, then looked back on the days of Microsoft Clippy and thought to yourself, man, I wish this thing would follow me everywhere and tell me how to play a video game, have I got good news for you.
"Jaspar recognizes the player by name, helps with onboarding, understands the game's lore, and can highlight threats or key objects in the environment," Ubisoft says. "He can remind players of mission objectives, suggest next steps, and generally act as a tactical guide when they are unsure what to do next."
Images shared by Ubisoft reveal sample commands Jaspar is evidently meant to respond to, like, "Jaspar, who is the Wise Tower?" and "Jaspar, highlight this enemy!" Jaspar is also said to be capable of adjusting details like color and contrast.
Other Teammates include Pablo and Sofia, who fittingly look like automaton soldiers. "Just like Jaspar, they can be commanded directly or chatted with, the only exception being that Sofia and Pablo physically inhabit the world," Ubisoft says in a blog post.
In other screenshots, taken from a rough prototype first-person shooter used for internal testing, a prompt to "Hold [Right Bumper] Speak to Team" is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Pablo says, "I am a First-Generation cybernetic chassis, built to serve and protect." An unseen player says, "Let's go to check the black box" in an image captioned, "Check_the_Blackbox_with_comments."
As these images enter my brain, all I can think about is how Ubisoft became the patron saint of flagrantly staged co-op dialogue during live multiplayer demos – awkward E3 lines like "Ha, nice, I got a Legendary" remain embedded in the RAM of my brain – and how cosmically fitting it is for it to be the company that's researched even that human element out of staged co-op entirely.
"The goal the team hopes to achieve has players right at its heart," Ubisoft seems to counter.
"We hope players will feel like they're shaping the story themselves, not just following it," Mosser says. "When I talk to [my AI squad mate] Sofia, she reacts to what I tell her and it changes my experience. For me, this is a real breakthrough and allows players to experience the story in their own way." This whole initiative is about going beyond chatbots, but the cynic in me can't help but compare this assessment to the way some people respond to chatbots 'answering' them.
Mosser continues: "At first, I had the same concerns as many others. But I discovered that it's the exact opposite of removing the human from the process. I still write the story and character personalities, but instead of fixed lines, we create these kinds of fences that let NPCs improvise within the world but stay within the boundaries of the lore and motivations we have given them. They can improvise, but we still set the rules and direct the story and characters."
In the same news blast, and in the same breath, Guillemot adds: "We are making exciting progress in building the tools of tomorrow for our teams. This work reflects the direction we want to take in the years ahead. Creativity remains deeply human. AI provides tools that help bring creative visions to life in new ways, it can be a powerful enabler to create even more meaningful and immersive experiences for players."
