As AI-generated performers, assets, films—and now even entire games—become more common, a developer from Baldur’s Gate 3 has voiced sharp reservations about the role of artificial intelligence in the games industry.
We may have reached an uncomfortable milestone: AI is increasingly being presented as capable of producing finished games, a claim highlighted by Elon Musk’s xAI studio and its proposed first release in 2026. Many in the community are uneasy about this shift, including Larian Studios’ publishing director Michael “Cromwelp” Douse. A recent thread responding to Musk’s new “game” underscores that unease.
He also reflects on how retail once governed standards—quality, price, availability—and how its collapse created an opportunity to form direct relationships with players. Instead, the industry largely pivoted toward short-term profit metrics and spreadsheet-driven decisions. Douse’s point: AI won’t fix that strategic failure.
According to Douse, success will belong to people who build for other people. He predicts the market will eventually grow roots—cloud services, subscription models and the like will mature—but cautions those roots may not align with what the industry needs to recover after retail’s upheaval.
He pushes for more human-to-human creativity rather than automated, venture-capital-driven opportunism. The tools around us could enable sustainability, he contends, but they should augment craft and connection—not replace the people who make games meaningful. “There is no resonance without mutual respect,” he adds, and that respect starts with valuing the craft itself.
Summing up, Douse warns that turning games into soulless, digital-only content abandons the emotional connection that draws people to play in the first place—an emotional core only the human touch can sustain.
I don’t disagree — as a player rather than a developer, I’m frustrated by the spread of AI-generated content and find Douse’s critique compelling.
This isn’t the first time Douse has spoken up, nor is he alone among the Baldur’s Gate 3 team. Larian’s founder and creative lead Swen Vincke also recently voiced concerns while responding to EA’s proposed $55 billion acquisition, reminding people that producing games faster and cheaper while charging more has rarely worked out—words grounded in long experience.
The serene startup screen in Baldur’s Gate 3 arrived “pretty late” in development after “SO MANY versions” were tested, says the publishing lead.
Source: gamesradar.com
