Microsoft’s new partnership with Inworld brings AI development tools to Xbox, but will developers bite?
Game development is about to get easier, thanks to AI.
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What you need to know
In the past few years, we’ve seen Microsoft’s focus shift togenerative AI, especially aftermaking a multi-billion dollar investmentin the technology, which ultimately extended its partnership withOpenAI.
We’ve seen Microsoft inject the technology across its ecosystem, including Microsoft Edge and Windows 11, with “Copilots” designed to serve as AI-powered assistants. It was only a matter of time till the ripple effect was felt in the gaming department, which brings us to today’s announcement highlighting thenewfound partnership between Microsoft and Inworld AI.
The multi-year co-development partnership will help bring new tools to Xbox, including an AI design copilot and an AI character runtime engine that will assist developers in creating AI-powered characters, stories, and quests.
According to the statement released announcing the new partnership, the design copilot will sport similar capabilities, we’ve seen before onWindows Copilotor evenBing Chat. The system can take prompts and turn them into “detailed scripts, dialogue trees, quests, and more.”
As for the AI character runtime engine, it’s designed to enable “entirely new narratives with dynamically generated stories, quests, and dialogue.”
This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.
Is bringing AI tools to Xbox the right call?
The incorporation of AI into Xbox was imminent, however, its future remains uncertain. With reports ofthe technology losing accuracy over time,getting dumber,the user base declining, and thejust-released Executive Order by President Bidendesigned to assert the privacy and safety of the tool, there’s no telling how this will go.
Still, it’s a step in the right direction, especially when used sparingly to retain authenticity and the raw form of titles. However, these tools will remain optional for game developers, so it’s essentially their call to determine the gravity of the tools' usage.
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Xbox’s general manager of gaming AI, Haiyan Zhang, stated:
At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games. This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.
It’ll be interesting to see the effect AI has on gaming in the long run and how it’ll impact the gameplay.
Do you think game developers will adopt these new AI tools?Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Kevin Okemwa is a seasoned tech journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya with lots of experience covering the latest trends and developments in the industry at Windows Central. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for detail, he has written for leading publications such as OnMSFT, MakeUseOf, and Windows Report, providing insightful analysis and breaking news on everything revolving around the Microsoft ecosystem. You’ll also catch him occasionally contributing at iMore about Apple and AI. While AFK and not busy following the ever-emerging trends in tech, you can find him exploring the world or listening to music.
