"I just find AI to be creatively soulless": Casey Hudson on the controversial tech and Star Wars: Fate Of The Old Republic

"It’s hard to imagine where it’s actually helpful in the process"

It is, obviously, way too early to know anything that's worth anything about Star Wars: Fate Of The Old Republic just yet. The KOTOR spiritual successor was only revealed last December, and it was one of those CG trailers that exist to build hype and to tell prospective hirees that they can apply for a job without having to worry about breaking several thousand NDAs. But one thing we can hopefully say about it? There won't be any AI (the bad kind) found within it.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Hudson first explained that he's hoping to keep the team small. "We really want to avoid having hundreds and hundreds of people," he explained, noting how difficult it could be to work at BioWare due to how much staff it had. To make up for that, contractors will be brought in to co-develop the game, a tactic I still find to be a tad iffy as it is just benefiting from the labour without necessarily providing the benefits that a salaried position would.

At the very least, Hudson won't be relying on AI. "I just find AI to be creatively soulless," he said. "It’s hard to imagine where it’s actually helpful in the process. I’m just really unimpressed with it." Aren't we all! Well, we all should be, unfortunately there are a few out there that like throwing rocks at monkeys in the zoo and acting surprised when the monkeys fight back.

It doesn't sound like Fate Of The Old Republic will be a slog to get through either. "Bigger isn’t necessarily better. If I’m excited about a game and then I find out that it’s 200 hours long - even if I have no ambition to actually finish it - I wonder, if I put 20 hours in, will I even be out of act one?" Hudson explained. "A lot of players just want to play something and finish it." Replayability will come into play, however, as there are plans for multiple storylines.

The game dev also doubled down on the RPG coming out before 2030, saying, "Making games that take five or seven years - none of us want to do that." I'll keep an eye on the calendar, Hudson.