CD Projekt Red Won't Rely on AI Making Complete Games for The Witcher 4

CD Projekt Red isn't 'planning to rely on AI making complete games', and will still be 'predominantly using people' for The Witcher 4 and beyond

Generative AI in videogame development, despite the looming potentiality of a bubble popping, has continued to be a hot-button topic pelted at developers during earning calls, despite most of them recognising that there's not much use for it beyond mundane busywork. Sure, it's being used commonly, but rarely for the actual making of the videogame itself. Filling in the roles that procedural generation might or, like, resizing shoulderpads -- or for "user preference analysis". Not exactly the kind of stuff that revolutionises an industry, and certainly not enough to justify reducing labour en masse. This also seems to be the view of joint CD Projekt Red CEO Michał Nowakowski, who was asked such a question during an earnings conference yesterday, and once more found himself required to emphasise that they're using people to make videogames like The Witcher 4: "AI is definitely becoming a thing in games development as well. We are still predominantly using people and this is our plan -- to make games where we're not walking away from that." That's not to say that AI tools aren't being experimented with, they're just nowhere near a focal or vital part of development for the studio: "AI, if anything, is a tool like many others that's helping in places that can maybe become more helpful in the future but we're not planning to rely on AI making complete games." Part of that, Nowakowski emphasises, is because the kind of games they make are so complex that it wouldn't make a lick of sense to leave the careful craftsmanship of them up to an LLM or vibe coding: "especially with very complex games like ours, I don't even think this is the right or ethical path to follow. "So whether this is true for the whole industry, I'm not the person to make those statements. I think everybody has to make those judgments on their own." Even if you scrap the general distaste for AI slop, it's not like going all-in on the tech is risk free. From a legal standpoint, anti-AI clauses are quickly becoming boilerplate for videogame publishers, at least when it comes to the creative work you'd need to prove you own in a court of law.

The Witcher 4 dev is "still predominantly using people" over AI in development, says CEO, but "everybody has to make those judgments on their own"

If you're stressed about AI slop creeping its way into The Witcher 4, fear not, CD Projekt Red says it's still using humans as its primary means of developing games, even if robots are seemingly replacing people at an alarming rate everywhere else. During CDPR's latest earnings call, joint CEO Michał Nowakowski was asked to explain the company's current approach to AI in game development, and he toed the line in a similar way to most executives from major studios. Essentially, he acknowledged the tech's usefulness in certain areas of development but rejected straight-up AI-generated games, which isn't a particularly hot take but is noteworthy coming from the co-head of a studio behind some of the most anticipated games on the horizon. "AI is definitely becoming a thing in the games development as well. We are still predominantly using people and this is our plan, to make games where we're not walking away from that," says Nowakowski. "AI, if anything, is a tool like many others that's helping in places that can maybe become more helpful in the future but we're not planning to rely on AI making complete games." Well, that's certainly a relief. Here I was worrying a piece of obscure AI-generated concept art would find its way into The Witcher 4; now I have to deal with the idea of completely AI-generated games, but thankfully Nowakowski made it clear CDPR draws an ethical line on atrocities like that. What other developers do with their games, however, is up to them. "To be honest, especially with very complex games like ours, I don't even think this is the right or ethical path to follow, so whether this is true for the whole industry, I'm not the person to make those statements. I think everybody has to make those judgments on their own." Ultimately, Nowakowski's current philosophy on AI in game development mirrors the most common sentiments expressed by video game executives across the board: it's largely fine if used to streamline processes as long as it doesn't make it into the final product. There's no telling whether that approach will change as the technology evolves, but for now we can rest easy knowing AI-generated Geralt only exists in our nightmares.