The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, a very Mass Effect-esque video game based on James S. A. Corey’s popular book series and developed by Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader maker Owlcat Games, got a brand new trailer and a rough release window announcement (spring 2027) during yesterday’s Xbox Partner Preview showcase. However, as promising as the game looks, the only thing anyone seems to be talking about today is Owlcat Games’ confirmation that generative AI is being used during The Expanse: Osiris Reborn’s development.
As revealed by Eurogamer, who quizzed Owlcat Games’ PR manager prior to yesterday’s Xbox Partner Preview showcase, while generative AI tools will be leaned upon during development, the end result will still be “human made.” “We don’t use it to create any assets that will be in the game,” PR manager Katharina Popp said. “We use it a lot for prototyping, trying things out, placeholders. They will all be replaced at the end…We use it basically for trying out things on a technical level.”
“For example, looking how a 2D image looks in 3D, or changing colors to what looks good,” Popp continued. “So it’s basically for being able to iterate faster. But we don’t use it to write, we don’t use AI voice actors, so everything that will be in the final version will definitely 100 percent be human made.”
Eurogamer notes in their article that Owlcat Games already had to clarify its stance on generative AI tools back in March 2024 after it posted a concept artist job listing that required interviewees to have expertise with “concept generation using AI and other modern tools.”
Of course, as Crimson Desert proved, even if generative AI is (ostensibly) only used for stuff like placeholders and prototyping, some of that slop still has a funny habit of ending up in the full release. My own personal distaste for AI-generated content aside, I feel like saying artwork will be fully “human made” even if it’s based on an AI-generated iteration remains a bit of a grey area. You can alter it and change it as much as you like, but the influence will always be there, whether the player is aware and cares about it or not.
