在剛結束的TGA2025期間，《神諭》新作的宣發卻引火燒身。由於拉瑞安工作室CEO斯溫·文克證實團隊利用生成式AI輔助早期創意構思和概念圖繪製，這在社媒上引發了一場針對「AI取代人類藝術家」的輿論風暴。儘管斯溫隨後緊急「對線」，解釋這只是作為搜尋引擎和參考工具的升級版，且沒有AI生成素材進入最終遊戲，但憤怒的網友依然不買賬。
對此，《天國降臨：救贖》開發商Warhorse Studios的聯合創始人丹尼爾·瓦夫拉（Daniel Vávra）實在看不下去了，選擇在X平台上公開聲援友商。瓦夫拉直言不諱地指出，現在的「AI恐懼症」簡直就像是19世紀工人們瘋狂砸毀蒸汽機的翻版。他表示拉瑞安只是說出了行業內心照不宣的秘密——現在絕對每家廠商都在用這玩意，結果卻遭到了荒謬的圍攻。對於有傳言指責《天國降臨：救贖2》也使用了AI，他澄清目前僅用於初代貼圖的高清修復，但他同時也強調：「是時候面對現實了，AI賴著不走，我們得學會共存。」
This AI hysteria is the same as when people were smashing steam engines in the 19th century. @LarAtLarian said they were doing something that absolutely everyone else is doing and got an insanely crazy shitstorm. I've even seen someone accuse us of using AI in KCD2. I don't know anything about it, except that I used Topaz Labs to upscale some of the AI elements from KCD1 and some of the old low res textures. I'm no fan of AI generated art, but anyway, it's time to face reality. AI is here to stay with us. As frightening as it may be, that's the way it is. Personally, it scares me the most in the music because you can't even recognise AI there anymore. On the other hand, you know what I hate most about making games? The fact that it takes 7 years and 300 people and tens of millions of dollars to make. And the fact that Tom had to spend 500 hours in the studio recording completely generic heckling and generic bars. If AI can help me make an epic game in a year with a smaller team like in the old days, I'm all for it. That game will still have an art director, writers, programmers, graphic designers, but they won't have to do the tiresome and boring tasks, they'll have to focus on the essentials. I have ideas for lots of games, but I'm fifty years old and so far it's taken me seven years on average to make one game. If AI helps me realize those ideas faster, I'm all for it. As for the RPG and the actors. Wouldn't it be nice if you could ask ANYONE ANYTHING in an RPG? Like, maybe someone for the road directions? Or what they think of their neighbors? We already have tools (11labs can do it) where you script a NPC, their character, their knowledge and opinions and then they talk to you about anything. For non-story stuff, this is an absolutely revolutionary development from a player's point of view. And you can't record it with an actor because it has INFINITE variations. But what you can record are cutscenes and story dialogue. You dont need an Oscar level performance when ordering a sausage in a pub or when asking how to get to the castle. Programmers have a problem. The work of most of them will probably not be needed very soon. We will have software architects, and AI will do the programming. Very soon. Resisting this is probably as meaningful as resisting the use of sewing machines in the textile industry. Or going back to riding on horses while we could use planes and cars. How many horse breeders lost their jobs thanks to Henry Ford!? Who and how will recognize if the game was programmed by a human or AI? And who would want to spend months of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars when the same thing could be achieved in minutes for free? The whole AI revolution may mean the demise of humanity, nobody knows now, but it may also mean that ANYONE, at a fraction of the current cost, will be able to implement virtually any grand idea. Making a game will be as easy as writing a book. There will be more games. We'll see the return of niche genres. Some games will be better. Maybe just a few. There will be also lot of trash. But who cares? There is lots of average trash in books or music for years :) It will also be an end of most big publishers. And Hollywood as we know it. Nobody will need their money and resources anymore. What we saw with boom of indie scene thanks to Steam, we will see with AAA games thanks to AI. Or Skynet will destroy us before all that. Either way, there's no stopping it. I used AI to translate this text from my native language :) Let the shitstorm begin! :)
瓦夫拉的觀點非常務實，直擊當前3A遊戲開發的痛點：周期太長、成本太高。這位年過五旬的老將抱怨道，現在的遊戲動輒開發7年，動用300人，燒掉數千萬美金，還要花500個小時在錄音棚里錄製無聊的路人NPC背景音。如果AI能讓他像「遠古時代」那樣帶領小團隊在一年內搓出一款史詩級大作，那他舉雙手贊成。
針對最敏感的配音取代問題，瓦夫拉也給出了獨特的見解。他認為類似11Labs的語音生成技術對於開放世界RPG是革命性的。想像一下，你可以在遊戲裡向任何路人NPC詢問路況或鄰里八卦，而不需要數萬行的預寫腳本，這對沉浸感的提升是巨大的。至於那些需要在酒吧點香腸或問路的龍套角色，根本不需要奧斯卡級別的演技，把真正的表演留給主線劇情和過場動畫才是資源的最優解。
最後，瓦夫拉對未來做出了大膽且略帶「地獄笑話」的預測：就像福特汽車淘汰了馬車夫一樣，AI或許會讓大量初級程序員失業，但這也能讓遊戲製作變得像寫書一樣簡單。未來大發行商可能會消亡，取而代之的是由AI賦能的「3A級獨立遊戲」爆發。雖然這也可能意味著 Skynet 會在那之前先毀滅人類，但無論如何，這趟技術列車已經停不下來了。
