AI Prompts Will Soon Let a 10-Person Team Build a Game Like Breath of the Wild Where the AI Is Doing All the Dialogue and You Just Write Character Synopsis, Tim Sweeney Predicts

Epic Games brag Tim Sweeney believes tiny teams volition soon beryllium capable to usage AI prompts to marque video games connected the standard of Nintendo masterpiece The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Speaking to IGN astatine Epic’s State of Unreal 2025 lawsuit (where CD Projekt revealed a stunning The Witcher 4 tech demo), Sweeney said AI prompts volition beryllium “a cardinal part” of crippled engines, and volition effect successful “entirely caller genres of games invented that weren't imaginable oregon applicable before” without it.

Epic's Tim Sweeney is each successful connected AI. Photo by SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg.

“Every important beforehand successful exertion has led to the emergence of caller games,” Sweeney explained.

“I retrieve 3D gaming conscionable became imaginable and past Doom and Wolfenstein introduced the 3D shooter. The conflict royal genre itself lone became imaginable erstwhile you had capable show connected hardware and engines that you could person a 100 players successful a azygous play space.

“AI characters giving you the anticipation of infinite dialog with a truly elemental setup for creators means tiny teams volition beryllium capable to make games with immense amounts of characters and immense and interactive worlds. What would it instrumentality for a 10-person squad to physique a crippled similar Zelda Breath of the Wild successful which the AI is conscionable doing each the dialog and you're conscionable penning immoderate quality synopsis? That's wholly going to beryllium wrong scope implicit the adjacent fewer years.”

Sweeney’s enthusiasm astir AI is nary secret, of course, and Epic Games is each in. AI Darth Vader deed Fortnite past period successful a archetypal for the all-encompassing conflict royale. He tin serenade you, articulation and permission squads astatine will, respond intelligently to the player, contented impromptu dialogue, summarize gameplay events, and pass the subordinate if something's astir to spell down.

Darth Vader is voiced by the inimitable James Earl Jones, who died successful September 2024 astatine the property of 93. This AI mentation of his voice, powered by Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash exemplary and ElevenLabs' Flash v2.5, is utilized with the Jones family's permission.

This sparked a statement astir the morals of generative AI, peculiarly erstwhile it comes to NPCs specified arsenic Darth Vader that revive the dependable of dormant actors. Sweeney, though, believes AI exertion is yet of nett payment to society, contempt immoderate drawbacks.

“I spot AI arsenic exertion that's yet determination to empower quality creators to make worldly much efficiently,” helium said. “I deliberation that's a bully thing. It's unfortunate that the advent of modern AI has been tainted by companies conscionable ripping monolithic amounts of contented disconnected of different companies and individuals connected the web. But arsenic a basal level technology, it should beryllium a multiplying origin and multiplying unit connected our abilities.

“Certainly enabling indie teams to physique bigger and amended games means besides enabling AAA teams to physique staggering, immense immense games and to polish it ever further. So I deliberation there's going to beryllium a monolithic improvement arsenic everybody scrambles to larn caller skills arsenic you get connected apical of what's imaginable here. But I deliberation arsenic with immoderate different exertion that's improved our lives, the eventual nett accidental for radical is higher.”

Undeterred by immoderate backlash to AI Darth Vader, Epic has announced plans to fto radical make their ain AI NPCs successful Fortnite.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].