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Embark Studios and Nexon double down on using AI in game dev: ‘More time innovating; less time writing code’

IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

In a Capital Markets Briefing slideshow presentation from Nexon released yesterday, the minds behind the massively successful ARC Raiders and The Finals are fully embracing using AI in game development. Why? Because money, of course. And Nexon says it will be the best and most efficient at using AI along the way.

"Every company has a plan; most will get it wrong," said Embark CEO and Nexon executive chairman Patrick Söderlund in the presentation. "They're committing big, investments in tools – but tools won't help because they've misread the challenge. AI may be a race, but the winners won't be the first movers – the winners will be the ones who understood the challenge. Think of game development as auto mechanics. The tools are available to everyone, but not everyone has the knowledge and experience to use them."

The slideshow, spotted by GamesRadar, is addressed to shareholders in Nexon. So, in the end, it's all about how the company can be efficient and profitable, but that's nothing new, according to Nexon president and CEO Junghun Lee.

"Nexon has used AI tools for some time and we're quickly moving past the tool level – to applying context to everything we do," Lee said.

The presentation states Nexon will be using an AI initiative called Mono Lake, which "makes the intelligence available across everything we build and operate – every developer, every live ops team, every product decision has access to the base of information we've accumulated over decades."

And with this, the powers of AI will be used as tools by devs to help create games efficiently and quickly, according to Nexon. But within the presentation, Lee had a very unique way of describe the hit extraction shooter that found wide appeal at the end of 2025 while also getting heat for using AI voices instead of voice actors.

"Beyond the breakaway commercial success, ARC Raiders is a Trojan Horse – a gift that contains a
shift in the mindset about how technology frees developers and live service teams to spend more time thinking and less time typing," Lee said. "More time innovating; less time writing code. It changes how people work. The tools they use, how fast they can move, what they can accomplish."

In attempts to assuage worries about AI replacing actual devs, however, Lee was quick to point out that "what goes into our games – the creative content our players actually experience – […] remains the work of our developers."

"Our methodology doesn't replace creative people, it frees them to create, with context," Lee said. And yet, in the very same presentation, former EA executive Söderlund boasted about ARC Raiders and The Finals as "two games, built with significantly fewer people, at a fraction of the cost you'd expect for a AAA game."
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They should also use it for stories and dialogues. It really can't get any worse than what humans are producing (in the AAA sector) anyway.
 
Bojji said:
Performance will be so great when Ai starts writing the game code.
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We've already reached the point where many games render at native 1080p on high-end hardware, upscale it to 4K, and we still call it "good performance". Now we're heading toward cutting that native resolution in half and get even more fake pixels and frames.
 
Feels obvious that chinese and SK devs are going to lean into ai heavily and drag the western studios with more of a concern for their workers kicking and screaming along with them. Many such cases.
 
I feel like Nexon has gotta be one of the most cynical games companies ever lol, so that's not super surprising.

I guess we'll see if this leads to them making lots of good games, or not.
 
I kNOw everyone likes to hate aI .. but it really depends on who is using it and how they are using it.... it can be a tool to help improve the process and focus and other things that require human attention.
 
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uncreativename said:
I feel like Nexon has gotta be one of the most cynical games companies ever lol, so that's not super surprising.

I guess we'll see if this leads to them making lots of good games, or not.
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Nexon is one of those giant companies that is equivalent of multi-national corporation (they literally are), that just happens to deal in game development, but not vice versa. Their way of dealing in business is like typical corpo style. Profit first, everything else can go fuck itself.

But with that being said, there is no stopping game companies from using AI tool in one way or the other. People can really cry on internet forums about this, but even Capcom announced last week that they are officially using AI for their game projects. AI is not going away and people really should start accepting this fact.
 
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I mean... they aren't wrong. This is just one of those things where the source of the message makes it questionable... like the devil giving you an antidote and saying, " Take this, it would make you feel better."

Doesn't help either that, for all the extra time using Ai has given them, we aren't seeing any innovation from them.
 
As an Applications developer i can confirm that AI has absolutely sped up and improved our teams outputs.

Is it simple "claude write me a games with guns and explosions"... no of course not and Its going to take some extreme horsepower to ever reach that point, but right now it's a fantastic tool for developers.
 
Same folks that told you with BFV that if you didn't like it, you didn't need to buy it btw...

done-im-out.gif
 
Bojji said:
Performance will be so great when Ai starts writing the game code.
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I don't think people should be surprised to find out most of your favorite games last year were most likely developed with some AI help and majority of the games your playing this year will be AI assisted.

we already know BF6 used ai in their development.

It really is just a tool, a proper developer will know how to use it to optimize and audit the necessary bottlenecks.
 
Everyone will use AI, specially as these tools continue to evolve and get better.
Anecdotally, almost everyone I know now uses some sort of AI tool in their job (except some people that work in trade jobs) and all of them have told me they've found the tools to be useful and improve their productivity.
AI tools are way more than just shitty image and video generation.
 
What if I told you that engineers LIKE writing code and using AI to do it all makes you a highly technical spell checker and reduces your overall investment and interest in the project?
 
Shifty1897 said:
What if I told you that engineers LIKE writing code and using AI to do it all makes you a highly technical spell checker and reduces your overall investment and interest in the project?
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Not all engineers. I'd even say there's a majority among them who'd rather not repeat the nauseating exercise of writing syntactically correct lines of code every god damn day. Designing the app, taking care of architectural decisions, problem solving etc. is far more rewarding and fun and hitting the keyboard till your fingers bleed.
 
"More time innovating" while using a.i seems like an oxymoron, but expecting someone in a gaming company in 2026 not to talk out their asshole is pretty much pointless too.
 
Shifty1897 said:
What if I told you that engineers LIKE writing code and using AI to do it all makes you a highly technical spell checker and reduces your overall investment and interest in the project?
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Nah... we want to get things done so we can go home.

No one wants to go backwards.

I dont think I know anyone who would rather work harder and longer to get the same result
 
StueyDuck said:
Nah... we want to get things done so we can go home.

No one wants to go backwards.

I dont think I know anyone who would rather work harder and longer to get the same result
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I feel like you just proved my point: You're checked out, you just want to do the work and go home. No investment, no passion for the project. Not that I blame you, I make business software all day and it's hard to be passionate about it.

But that passion is what makes good games different.
 
Darko said:
I kNOw everyone likes to hate aI .. but it really depends on who is using it and how they are using it.... it can be a tool to help improve the process and focus and other things that require human attention.
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AI simply has no place in art or entertainment.

Use it for space travel, medicine or other fields where it is contained and can perform certain tasks that could help humanity.

It hast absolutely zero right to be in the hands of some random retard trying to make "art" or entertainment products.
 
Not against using ai for menial tasks like creating textures etc if this give devs more time to fine tune other things.

It is the future, the haters better hang tight to their asses...
 
Shifty1897 said:
I feel like you just proved my point: You're checked out, you just want to do the work and go home. No investment, no passion for the project. Not that I blame you, I make business software all day and it's hard to be passionate about it.

But that passion is what makes good games different.
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Literally no one i know with 10+ years in the industry would agree with you.

It's not about being checked out, its about being an adult and pragmatic.
 
What the shit, if you aren't using Ai for coding in some form. You might as well make your way to the Smithsonian because your ass is about to be extinct.
 
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Spooky Scary Skeleton said:
Nexon is one of those giant companies that is equivalent of multi-national corporation (they literally are), that just happens to deal in game development, but not vice versa. Their way of dealing in business is like typical corpo style. Profit first, everything else can go fuck itself.

But with that being said, there is no stopping game companies from using AI tool in one way or the other. People can really cry on internet forums about this, but even Capcom announced last week that they are officially using AI for their game projects. AI is not going away and people really should start accepting this fact.
Click to expand...
I'd be fine with this if they all obeyed the disclosure rules on Steam, so that people can make informed buying choices.
 
Sohurmk833 said:
AI simply has no place in art or entertainment.

Use it for space travel, medicine or other fields where it is contained and can perform certain tasks that could help humanity.

It hast absolutely zero right to be in the hands of some random retard trying to make "art" or entertainment products.
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That's a good way to put it...

Edit: i hate generative ai art.. i meant coding and testing/problem solving...its others uses are fine with me on a case by case basis lol
 
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Back in 2008 I programmed a simple Asteroids clone in C++ and Allegro using Visual Studio.
Allegro is a graphics library for those who don't know like SDL although I think SDL has a lot more gaming stuff in it.
Anyway the point is that I learned how to use an IDE, I worked out the logic for the game loop, how to move the ship and asteroids, how to fire the weapons and check for collisions between the projectiles, how to move the ship from the right side of the screen to the left side when you flew far enough, wrap around logic it's called.
If AI was around then I never would have learned how to that stuff myself.
It kind of makes me feel sorry for people starting out in learning how computers work and getting started in developing. Are they going to learn to actually work out logic and code it themselves?
 
StueyDuck said:
Nah... we want to get things done so we can go home.

No one wants to go backwards.

I dont think I know anyone who would rather work harder and longer to get the same result
Click to expand...
I did in two days using good and old c# what our AI vice president is trying to for more than one month... and still did not finish... and i had to show him every step i did... and send a copy of the whole database...

I easily say that a good chunk of all AI use is 'i could create a script, but that would not please investors, even if the result is CHEAPER, FASTER and as/more CORRECT than some AI bullshit.
 
haha, wow, this guy doesn't sound insufferable at all.

"Every company has a plan; most will get it wrong," said Embark CEO and Nexon executive chairman Patrick Söderlund in the presentation. "They're committing big, investments in tools – but tools won't help because they've misread the challenge. AI may be a race, but the winners won't be the first movers – the winners will be the ones who understood the challenge. Think of game development as auto mechanics. The tools are available to everyone, but not everyone has the knowledge and experience to use them."
Click to expand...


"Our methodology doesn't replace creative people, it frees them to create, with context," Lee said. And yet, in the very same presentation, former EA executive Söderlund boasted about ARC Raiders and The Finals as "two games, built with significantly fewer people, at a fraction of the cost you'd expect for a AAA game."
Click to expand...

And there we have it - the biggest reason why all the execs are so excited about AI.
 
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I hate paint because I saw a lot of graffiti on the way to work today. I don't want anything that uses paint.
 
PauloRoberto said:
I did in two days using good and old c# what our AI vice president is trying to for more than one month... and still did not finish... and i had to show him every step i did... and send a copy of the whole database...

I easily say that a good chunk of all AI use is 'i could create a script, but that would not please investors, even if the result is CHEAPER, FASTER and as/more CORRECT than some AI bullshit.
Click to expand...
What are you talking about, a guy who doesnt develop tried to use ai and you beat him, of course you did smartypants. He probably had no clue how to structure the database let alone what an SQL script looks like

But in a developer hands using Claude cli especially with opus 4.6 and the superpowers plugin what you are saying makes no sense. A developer who knows what they are doing with these tools can increase productivity 10 fold easily. I have yet to meet an actual veteran who's implemented it into their workflow and hated it.

Imagine having your own personal junior dev except they get things right most of the time, instead of having to do all their work anyway for them.

Thats what implementing AI in my workflow feels like

Again any developer whose been working for years saying "i dont want the meaningless shit done quick" is just wasting their own time
 
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StueyDuck said:
What are you talking about, a guy who doesnt develop tried to use ai and you beat him, of course you did smartypants. He probably had no clue how to structure the database let alone what an SQL script looks like

But in a developer hands using Claude cli especially with opus 4.6 and the superpowers plugin what you are saying makes no sense. A developer who knows what they are doing with these tools can increase productivity 10 fold easily. I have yet to meet an actual veteran who's implemented it into their workflow and hated it.

Imagine having your own personal junior dev except they get things right most of the time, instead of having to do all their work anyway for them.

Thats what implementing AI in my workflow feels like

Again any developer whose been working for years saying "i dont want the meaningless shit done quick" is just wasting their own time
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LIke i expected, VERY wrong ;-) The vice-president in question is also the company AI architect, so your WHOLE argument is invalid :)
 
AI is maybe the only viable path to save the industry long term.

I know a lot of people don't like it but it's just a matter of time before absolutely everyone will be using these tools for better or for worse.
 
Good.

Coding is the absolute most boring part of development. I like a lot of things about game dev, but fuck do I hate coding, and I studied this stuff in University for years. I won't miss it.
 
I don't see a problem with using AI for coding. As long as the devs know what they are doing, it can be quite productive, actually. I built an entire product without knowing a single line of GoLang in 2 days. Just needed basic programming skills to know what it's generating and why and guide it every step of the way.

Just don't ask it to be creative on your behalf…
 
Some backup for that. https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-i...-users-not-to-rely-on-it-for-important-advice

What a bizarre thing to say :pie_open_mouth:. Copilot is being marketed towards programmers (well, the bosses of programmers) all across the tech world more than anyone else. It's built into Visual Studio by default. It's the opposite of entertainment.

See also https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/30/github_copilot_ads_pull_requests/
Microsoft has done a 180. Following backlash from developers, GitHub has removed Copilot's ability to stick ads - what it calls "tips" - into any pull request that invokes its name.

Australian developer Zach Manson noted on Monday that, after a coworker asked Copilot to correct a typo in one of his pull requests, he was surprised to find a message from Copilot in the PR pushing readers to adopt productivity app Raycast.

"Quickly spin up Copilot coding agents from anywhere on your macOS or Windows machine with Raycast," the note read with a lightning bolt emoji and link to install Raycast.
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uncreativename said:
Some backup for that. https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-i...-users-not-to-rely-on-it-for-important-advice

What a bizarre thing to say :pie_open_mouth:. Copilot is being marketed towards programmers (well, the bosses of programmers) all across the tech world more than anyone else. It's built into Visual Studio by default. It's the opposite of entertainment.

See also https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/30/github_copilot_ads_pull_requests/
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I watched a video using Sora "One Last Time," and the quality of the output was pretty bad overall. It felt like the AI was breaking down. I wonder if there is some kind of degradation if certain things are not taken care of/neglected... It was kind of scary.

If people/companies get used to some kind of performance that the AI is able to do, and then suddenly it just tanks, basically becoming useless 😬... Then the risk is too much.
 
Darko said:
I kNOw everyone likes to hate aI .. but it really depends on who is using it and how they are using it.... it can be a tool to help improve the process and focus and other things that require human attention.
Click to expand...
I'd say that AI is necessary, it should be used without shame. It takes too long to make games without it, budgets are too high. At this point we're looking at 1-2 AAA games per studio per console generation, without AI, and games need to sell 5+ million copies for the studio to not close. No exaggeration.
 
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