In a new interview published by Bloomberg today, reporter Jason Schreier spoke to Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke ahead of last week’s Game Awards to ask some questions about the new Divinity game. Having its world-premiere reveal last week, most people were excited by the ludicrous display of violence and depravity that the trailer was setting up. It’s been almost a decade since the previous Divinity: Original Sin released, so it’s definitely time for a new one. Sadly, the entire title may now be poisoned by some revelations Schreier made during the discussion.
As the headline suggests, Larian Studios is now full steam ahead on generative AI. As Vincke tells Schreier, the use of it has been relegated to the planning process for games, but has been involved in everything from concept art to PowerPoint presentations and even placeholder text. In a rather damning quote, Vincke says that despite some pushback, “I think at this point everyone at the company is more or less OK with the way we’re using it.”
In some bizarre form of mental gymnastics, Vincke explains, “everything is human actors; we’re writing everything ourselves.” He admits to forcing his team to use AI tools to explore new ideas and flesh out PowerPoint presentations to share those ideas. Hilariously enough, Vincke admits there hasn’t been any big gains in productivity from the incorporation of AI into workflow for Larian. That almost sounds like you shouldn’t be using it then.
While the beginning of the interview sounds like an earnest discussion about the creative process and how Larian allows its artists to flesh out ideas, everything begins to ring hollow once you hit the AI segment. Maybe the next Divinity won’t contain any AI generated content, but the planning process likely had some. That’s enough for most to write off the entire thing.
Check out more Larian Studios content
Divinity: Original Sin 2’s next-gen update is now live, including a Switch 2 port
Next Divinity game gets grotesque, Wicker Man-esque trailer at The Game Awards
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
