‘We prefer not to use it at all’: Plague Tale developer says using genAI is a choice for smaller teams, not a necessity

The producer of the upcoming Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy says smaller teams don’t have to rely on using generative AI in development to compete with larger studios.

The game, which is the third in the Plague Tale series and a prequel to the previous titles, follows smuggler Sophia and explores her life 15 years before the events of A Plague Tale: Requiem.

In an interview with Eurogamer, producer Eric Chort was asked about the use of generative AI in development, and whether he believes the fact that developer Asobo is smaller than triple A studios – around 70 staff are working on Resonance – means AI is a useful tool for bringing development up to a triple A level.

“We don’t use it, we don’t want [to],” Chort replied. “It’s a choice. We think that our games are working with the fans and with the community and with the critics because they are original, because we have unique settings, unique characters, artistic direction.

“All this is pretty in danger because of AI as we see it. We just want to stay [with] how we make games and to keep this thing in mind when we are making games – our creativity, our authenticity.”

Chort added that if developers on non-triple A games want to compete, they should work to their strengths and be more thoughtful about the decisions they made during development.

“In terms of trying to be triple-A when we are double-A and we are a little team, we don’t see AI as a solution for that,” he explained. “We just make it more organic as we are working every day, and we try to be smart in the way we are making our games.

“Keeping [it] a linear game, for example, is a solution to make it fit triple A in terms of graphics and things like that. But if you make it open-world, okay, it’s very hard, so here you have an issue. Here you have to think, okay, perhaps AI is a solution, but we wouldn’t make this choice. The choice would be, okay, can we grow up to be able to produce this?”

He added: “We prefer not to use it at all, and keep our creativity. Asobo is a family team and we have a lot of people that stay a long time in the studio that are veterans, and a lot of young people, so definitely we choose people. This is the way we are thinking about production.”

As revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase last week, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy will be released on August 27 on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. The game will also be on Xbox Game Pass on day one.