Last year, on Oct. 30, the highly anticipated Arc Raiders burst onto the scene. It had gained a lot of momentum from its previous tech tests and a public stress test called “The Server Slam.” In terms of its player count, it managed to overtake gaming giants like Call of Duty and Battlefield 6. The game generated widespread praise for its immersive world, impressive enemies, great movement mechanics, and satisfying gunplay.
As someone who has played the game almost nonstop since its release, I can affirm these comments. Arc Raiders has proven to be one of my favorite games of all time, and is well deserving of the “Best Multiplayer Game” trophy it won at the 2025 Game Awards.
The true standout of the game is the Arc. A highly advanced army of machines, they each fill a specific purpose in the combat of Arc Raiders. The most interesting part of them, however, is the way they can be broken apart. For instance, the Wasp can have its rotors shot off. But if you let it survive for long enough, it will learn how to maintain a stable flight pattern.
This is possible by using AI learning. The team at Embark used AI to teach the robots how to move using the limbs, terrain, and physics engine they gave them. It creates an incredibly immersive movement system that makes the Arc an incredibly interactive enemy to fight against.
But, this is not the only usage of AI in the game. Arc Raiders uses an AI text-to-speech generator in place of actual voice acting. Think of it like the voices of Siri or Google. Embark pays voice actors to put their voices through a voice generator, allowing them to generate whatever lines they want.
This comes with its benefits and its downsides. On the plus side, when the player marks a location, it comes with a very dynamic line that accurately describes the location that has been marked. The negative aspect of this is that all of the voice acting feels incredibly stunted and poorly done. It is obviously AI, and really takes you out of the immersive world of Arc Raiders whenever you hear it.
But why does Embark use AI? It turns out, their founding was based on this new technology. Their founder, Patrick Söderlund, was originally the head of DICE, a studio under EA Games. When he and many others left DICE in 2018, publishing company Nexon helped to fund them.
Nexon has made many famous games, but the most relevant right now is their early investment in AI. They created a branch called Intelligence Labs in 2017, which focuses on machine learning. Evidently, this studio has a strong interest in the success of AI, like many companies today.
Returning to Patrick Söderlund, he himself has shown a desire to integrate AI into various aspects of game development. He has been very clear that he doesn’t want to replace “the human aspect” of game development, but enhance it and speed up the laborious parts.
Arc Raiders has opened the discussion about how AI will be used in video games. Many developers have stated that they have been using AI to “vibe code,” meaning they have AI fill in gaps in their coding process. The developers of the critically acclaimed Clair Obscur Expedition 33 have admitted to using AI for temporary textures during development and early concept art.
Ultimately, AI is becoming a much more present tool in game development. Regardless of AI-slop games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 releasing, games like Clair Obscur breaking the award record at the 2025 Game Awards have given the green light for developers. It is up to players to “vote with their wallets” to determine how AI will be used in space.
