Larian Studios CEO Sven Vincke said the company's next game, Divinity, won’t have any AI-generated content.
Larian's next game, Divinity, was revealed at The Game Awards 2025
Photo Credit: Larian Studios
Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios is facing backlash from players after CEO and creative director Sven Vincke said the company used generative AI in its workflow. Under the executive, Larian has reportedly been “pushing hard” on generative AI, but Vincke said the technology has not led to a boost in efficiency.
Speaking to Bloomberg just before last week's The Game Awards, Vincke talked about Larian's next project, the studio's policy on generative AI use, and the success of Baldur's Gate 3. The Larian Studios founder said the company has been using generative AI despite some pushback from staffers. “But I think at this point everyone at the company is more or less OK with the way we're using it,” he said.
Vincke admitted that AI had not dramatically improved Larian's efficiency. He also added that Larian's next game, Divinity, which was revealed at The Game Awards 2025, won't have any AI-generated content. “Everything is human actors,” Vincke said, “we're writing everything ourselves”. However, the executive said that artists and creators often used AI tools to play around and experiment with ideas, polish PowerPoint presentations, create concept art, and generate placeholder text.
Since the publication of the interview on Tuesday, Vincke and Larian have faced criticism from fans and players online. While generative AI use is growing in game development, the technology is frowned upon by both creatives and players. Steam requires developers to disclose generative AI use on their game page so “customers can also understand how the game uses AI.”
Vincke, for his part, has responded to the backlash online and issued a clarification, saying AI use at Larian is not a substitute for artists and creatives.
“Holy f* guys we're not "pushing hard" for or replacing concept artists with AI,” he said on X Wednesday. “We have a team of 72 artists of which 23 are concept artists and we are hiring more. The art they create is original and I'm very proud of what they do.
“I was asked explicitly about concept art and our use of Gen AI. I answered that we use it to explore things. I didn't say we use it to develop concept art. The artists do that. And they are indeed world class artists.
“We use AI tools to explore references, just like we use google and art books. At the very early ideation stages we use it as a rough outline for composition which we replace with original concept art. There is no comparison.”
Vincke then shared a link for a separate interview where he detailed how Larian was using machine learning to do tasks that make developers' workflow easier. “We've hired creatives for their talent, not for their ability to do what a machine suggests, but they can experiment with these tools to make their lives easier,” he added.
Divinity will be Larian's largest game yet
Photo Credit: Larian Studios
Generative AI has become a flashpoint in the gaming industry, with several companies pushing for the use of the technology to cut costs. EA's new investors, for instance, are reportedly betting big on AI to help the company cut operating costs significantly in the wake of its $55 billion leveraged buyout deal, which includes a $20 billion debt committed by JPMorgan. People involved in the deal told FT that AI-based cost cuts would boost EA's profits significantly in the coming years.
Major AAA games released recently have faced backlash for using generative AI in development. Activision was criticised for putting “AI slop” in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which allegedly features a ton of AI-generated artwork. Embark Studios' extraction shooter Arc Raiders came under fire for the use of AI-generated voice lines.
In a creative industry, however, the use of generative AI has become a point of contention between concept artists, voice actors, developers, and large studios. Earlier this year, video game voice actors, represented by the actors' union SAG-AFTRA, reached a deal with video game studios with a focus on AI protections.
More recently, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick gave his take on AI in game development and said the technology won't be “very good” at making something like Grand Theft Auto.
“Let's say there were no constraints (on AI). Could we push a button tomorrow and create an equivalent to the ‘Grand Theft Auto' marketing plan?” Zelnick said in an interview in October. “The answer is no. A, you can't do that yet, and B, I am of the view that you wouldn't end up with anything very good. You end up with something pretty derivative.”
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