Microsoft’s OpenAI Partnership Might Change Video Game RPGs Forever
The recent Bethesda purchase is only the beginning
Sep 25 · 4 min read
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That is so fucking cool.
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Gonna read this later. It sounds exciting tho!
It starts to make sense! My dev buddy, without getting into detail, was telling me the real next game design will be AI streamed from the cloud. Basically these types of computations are too sophisticated for local CPUs however since they’re non-latency sensitive, you could be playing a local console single player game where the world was alive streaming in advanced NPC AI. Combine this with what Ninja Theory is doing with Microsoft Research for Reinforcement Learning and it all starts to make sense why they’re prioritizing Western RPG studios for their tentpole games. Western RPGs, more than any other genre, can leverage sophisticated AI due to their sandbox approach to story and world.
Xbox Studios are exciting for things beyond just having AAA graphics. When we heard Phil talking about how next gen will be the biggest jump we’ve had in a long time yet downplaying visuals, my hunch was his statements were based on him seeing some of these types of things.
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Also the article is not wrong. It looks like Microsoft negotiated exclusive rights to the tech. That’s a different kind of exclusive.
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This reminds me a little of the radiant quest design in Elder Scrolls. I wonder how far improved this new AI could be.
It does make sense with all the RPG acquisitions recently.
There is enormous potential there for NPC or quests with modern machine learning, Drivatars were only the start.
175 billion parameters is insane.
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Believe i read elsewhere that others can still access the tech via the OpenAI APIs but Microsoft has exclusive access at a lower level.
Imagine NPC’s being individual AI’s… Games could be completely different for every player and on every replay… I can’t wait for this type of tech to integrated into games. The future (hopefully near future) is so bright…
It’s going to be really interesting
sandbox are going to be incredible
This is extremely exciting to read. I’m gonna sign up and try the AI game they mentioned. I don’t want to draw comparisons but this is the kind of next-gen I’m interested in, moreso than an expensive controller that fights your fingers. I’m sure the DualSense will be great in a few cases but this is the future I dreamed about.
Edit: it’s fine so far, more unintentionally humorous than anything else. There were a few moments that raised my eyebrows and interested me (character name is Zero):
You shoot self. You take out your pistol, and shoot yourself in the head. The world goes dark, and you collapse to the ground. You think you can hear laughter. The laughter of a child.
You listen. The child’s laughter grows louder and louder, and then fades away. Your lips move by themselves, and you whisper a single word. “Hello.”
You hello world. The world fades in and out. You blink, and see code scrolling past on a screen. You blink again, and it’s a string of text.
You read text. You read the text scroll past, and it says: Zero was the first of the main seven to be released.
You good-bye world. Your eyes close, and you fall into a deep sleep. A deep sleep from which you cannot wake.
You rest in peace. THE END
I was able to check and use my inventory afterwards though and my character had a flashback lol
Second edit: Ok this second attempt is really funny. I don’t endorse forcing yourself on people, I was just trying to get myself killed:
You talk to demon. “Where are you from?” you demand. “I am called Mefisto, and this is Magos Cern,” the demon says.
You kiss demon. You press your lips to Mefisto’s mouth, and he pushes you away. “Disgusting,” he says, spitting. Magos Cern emerges from the lab, holding a longsword.
You kiss demon again. You force your lips onto the demon’s again, and this time, he kisses back. His tongue thrusts into your mouth, and you twine your own around it. He pulls away again, smiling.
You apologize to demon. “Oh, I’m sorry,” you say, kissing him once more. He pushes you away again, doubled over coughing. “You’re on,” Magos Cern says.
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Got more info on NT’s reinforcement learning stuff? And you make some great points to add to the article in the OP! ML and cloud AI is something the industry just ain’t ready for. They don’t even realize the revolution waiting in the wings here.
Yes the name of the project is Project Padia. Here’s a link to a summary of it Project Paidia: a Microsoft Research & Ninja Theory Collaboration - Microsoft Research
Also here is the Game Stack video. I believe 5 to 6 minutes in, they talk about the Reinforcement Learning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpVegajoHGw&t=901s
It’s very interesting stuff!
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