No generative AI has been used to create oceanic survival game Subnautica 2, despite publisher Krafton’s publicly stated “AI-first company” ambitions.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Subnautica 2 creative media producer Scott MacDonald and design lead Anthony Gallegos confirmed that no generative AI has been used to create any aspect of Subnautica 2.
“No, we’re not using generative AI in Subnautica 2 at all,” MacDonald said. “It’s all traditional person-done. When we mention AI, it’s all traditional: a programmer has physically gone in and done it themselves, like [the] creature AI. We’re using Unity Blackboard and things like that. It’s basically all hand-done. It’s interesting technology, but it’s not something we’re using at all.”
This is a point of interest for Subnautica 2 and its developer Unknown Worlds, as the game’s publisher Krafton announced last October it would transition into an “AI-first company”, via a Korean language statement released to the company website. Within this statement, a new strategy was outlined which would “prioritise AI as a central and primary means of problem-solving”, “fostering change in individuals and organisations, increasing company-wide productivity, and accelerating mid- to long-term corporate value growth”.
So if Subnautica 2 doesn’t use generative AI, how far-reaching is this AI-first approach? According to MacDonald, while there was no mandate in place forcing the use of these tools, they were made available to the Unknown Worlds team.
“Krafton has basically said ‘here are all the tools. If you want to use them, you can’,” MacDonald explained. “There’s no mandate to use them or anything. We are free to say yes, or no, or whatever. We decided on this particular project that it doesn’t suit us, it doesn’t suit our pipeline, or what we want to do. But it’s there if people ever want to use it, we just aren’t using it at all.”
Gallegos elaborated on why he believed no mandate has been established for the Subnautica 2 team: “I think [Krafton] is smart enough to know that if we had to use those tools it could be disruptive to our process at this point. So a mandate would be harmful to the development of the game.”
Subnautica 2 isn’t the only Krafton release that has not fully embraced generative AI: for Project Windless, which was announced during February’s Sony State of Play, Krafton revealed the game has not used the technology for “narrative or connect creation elements”.
