NVIDIA ACE is quietly powering the AI boom in Asian video games, from PUBG to MIR5

NVIDIA is powering the AI boom in the world’s fastest-growing video game market, Asia. This topic first came up when we were looking into AI-generated voices in video games, similar to what happened in The Finals or, more recently, the use of AI Darth Vader in Fortnite. But what we found was something more complicated. While AI voices are becoming more common, NVIDIA is using NVIDIA ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) to power AI companions.

NVIDIA ACE is being used to create artificial teammates for you in video games

The topic of AI still remains highly controversial. Recently, when it was discovered that the developers of The Alters had used generative AI for background text that most players would never even notice, there was some notable backlash. Steam has also introduced a new rule that requires developers to disclose any use of generative AI on their store page. While researching some of the games that will come up in this article, community discussions were often split with many players saying they will never play a game from this developer, and others arguing in defense of the use of AI as if their lives depended on it.

One of the most noteworthy planned uses for NVIDIA ACE is giving solo players a teammate in PUBG: Battlegrounds. The concept was revealed in the above trailer earlier this year. PUBG is one of the most played games on Steam, consistently appearing in the top five most played games, according to SteamDB, and is owned by Krafton, one of the largest international video game publishers. While the video is highly edited and doesn’t appear to show any moment-to-moment gameplay with the AI teammate, just the concept could be a game-changer. Just a few months ago, the lack of support for a two-player mode and the challenge of playing solo in Elden Ring Nightreign caused backlash. A concept like this could provide developers with a way to avoid those problems.

This technology is also being introduced in other games like Naraka: Bladepoint from NetEase Games, inZOI also from Krafton, and upcoming titles like Wemade’s MIR5 and the smaller game Dead Meat from developer Meaning Machine. Dead Meat, if you haven’t heard of it, is a detective simulator, where you talk to suspects either through text or voice, say anything you want, and the characters respond to what you say. The game is planned to be released in 2025, and, according to NVIDIA, it is only possible now thanks to their new technology.

NVIDIA writes on their blog post: “Historically, these characters required the power of LLMs in the cloud, but cloud-based LLMs are challenging for runtime games due to 3rd party costs and online dependency. By working with NVIDIA, Meaning Machine were able to bring Dead Meat’s complex characters ‘on device.’” This is the key difference that NVIDIA seems to be bringing to the table with many of these developers: the lack of dependence on outside parties to make it functional.

But it isn’t all helpful companions or dynamic conversations. Wemade, the team behind the upcoming MMORPG MIR5, is utilizing NVIDIA ACE to try to create what could become some of the most uniquely challenging bosses in video games. From NVIDIA’s blog, “With ACE technologies, bosses will learn from previous encounters against players, adapting to tactics, skills, and gear used by players in the MMORPG.”

Players are expected to want to challenge bosses multiple times, presumably for resources or experience, but each fight will play out differently. Of course, this is still in development, so we will have to wait to see how it actually functions. I can’t help but think, though, that these bosses will still be limited to what attacks and abilities they are given. The surprise wouldn’t be the attacks themselves, just the order of them. It’s not quite the ever-innovating artificial intelligence one might imagine in a world of unlimited possibilities.

Most of these ideas are still in development, but it might only be a few years before they start to become more common. NVIDIA’s push to support publishers like Krafton and NetEase, tapping into that growing Asian video game market, feels like an early sign of what’s to come. For now, we’ll have to wait to see if these ideas live up to the hype.

PUBG: Battlegrounds

December 20, 2017

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• Nvidia
• AI / Artificial Intelligence
• Bluehole / Krafton
• WeMade Entertainment
• NetEase