Microsoft Partners With Inworld AI to Bring Generative AI to Game Development

Microsoft announced today a new partnership with Inworld AI, a startup aiming to improve game development with generative AI technology. The company’s work on generative AI allows developers to create game characters by just detailing them using natural language, similar to how ChatGPT and other AI chatbots work.

Inworld AI previously received an investment from Microsoft as part of its Series A round in August 2022. With this new multi-year partnership, Microsoft hopes to empower developers to create more complex worlds with easy-to-use tools for crafting quests and dialogues.

As you may know, many game developers have already been using AI to create procedurally-generated worlds. As an example, Starfield, Bethesda’s brand new sci-fi RPG has around 1,000 planets you can visit, something that would be impossible to create manually.

“Most recently, as game creators have begun experimenting with AI Large Language Models like OpenAI’s GPT, we see a world of opportunities to accelerate game developer creativity, reduce complexity, and enhance player experiences,” said Haiyan Zhang, General Manager of Gaming AI at Xbox.

The “multi-platform AI toolset” that Microsoft is developing with Inworld AI will include an AI design copilot that will let game developers “turn prompts into detailed scripts, dialogue trees, quests and more.“ Moreover, developers will also be able to integrate an AI character runtime engine into their games to generate quests and dialogues in a dynamic manner.

Microsoft said that it will collaborate with its internal studios as well as third-party developers to iterate on its new AI tools for game development. These tools will also be available on any platform, not just Windows and Xbox.