Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Shams Jorjani recently weighed in ARC RaidersAI controversy as the company used the technology to revive certain voice lines. ARC Raiders was originally released on October 30th and is currently available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
ARC Raiders has proven to be a huge success, recently breaking its own record of 416,000 players on Steam. Instead of seeing the drop in user numbers that would be normal, the popular extraction shooter soared to new heights in its third weekend with 481,966 concurrent players. While this would be big news for Embark Studios at any time, it's especially noteworthy ARC Raiders accumulated so many players on the weekend of the launch of both Escape from Tarkovrelease 1.0 a Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. However, ARC RaidersThe success came with a bit of controversy, as Embark Studios uses AI to animate some of the game's voices.
Arrowhead's CEO thinks there's a middle ground for artificial intelligence
As reported by GamesRadar+, Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Shams Jorjani recently appeared on The Game Business Show to discuss a wide range of topics, including the use of AI in video games such as ARC Raiders. Jorjani discussed the industry's response to artificial intelligence and boiled it down to two mindsets. On one hand, Square Enix has stated that it would like to automate 70% of its QA testing. On the other hand, “we have developers who feel that their livelihood…the very fabric of their being is threatened, and therefore all AI is bad AI.” Jorjani seems to believe the true answer is somewhere in the middle.
It is important to note that while ARC RaidersThe use of AI can be frustrating for some, the voice actors were paid for their work. Embark Studios uses its AI in a way that allows the company to expand the voice lines in the game without constantly calling the actors back to the studio. This makes it easy for the company to add new items, locations and so on. Jorjani seems to recognize the importance of making sure people are compensated, saying, “We have to make sure we're not stealing people's intellectual property and rights.” He even said it ARC Raiders could be “a very interesting use case that actually makes gaming better”.
ARC Raiders is not the only game that has made waves with its recent use of this technology, as Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has been criticized for its use of generative artificial intelligence. This came as no surprise to many fans of the franchise, as the company has been accused of using AI art for in-game assets and promotional materials in the past. While the future of AI in gaming seems uncertain, many people hope that companies will find a way to use the technology in a way that enhances human contributions rather than replacing them entirely.
- Released
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October 30, 2025
- ESRB
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Teen / Violence, Blood
