Embark boss says AI cut Arc Raiders and The Finals costs to a fraction of AAA budgets

AI as a process problem

Embark Studios CEO Patrick Soderlund has once again made the case for artificial intelligence in game development, saying the company used it to help build Arc Raiders and The Finals for far less than the usual AAA price tag.

In a briefing uncovered by GamesRadar+, Soderlund, who was recently named executive chairman of Nexon, argued that many large companies are looking at AI the wrong way. His view is that the problem is not simply buying new tools and hoping for a miracle, which is apparently a very expensive way to misunderstand the assignment.

“Every company has a plan; most will get it wrong. They’re committing big investments in tools – but tools won’t help because they’ve misread the challenge,” he said. “AI may be a race, but the winners won’t be the first movers – the winners will be the ones who understood the challenge.”

How Embark says it kept costs down

Soderlund said Embark began with “a blank slate,” asking basic questions about how a game moves from idea to green light and which tasks should be handled by people versus machines.

“At Embark, we started with a blank slate, questioning everything from: How do you get from an idea to a green light, to what needs to be done by hand versus what a machine can do more efficiently? Yes, some of that involves AI,” he said.

He added that the point was broader than automation alone. In his telling, the studio focused on “smarter processes, better tools, and to let go of habits that no longer serve them.”

That approach, he said, led directly to The Finals and Arc Raiders, which were both developed with fewer people and at a cost well below what players might expect for games of that scale.

“The initial outcome of that process is two games: THE FINALS and then ARC Raiders. Two games, built with significantly fewer people, at a fraction of the cost you’d expect for a AAA game.”

The AI debate around Arc Raiders is not new

AI use in Arc Raiders has already been a talking point. The game drew criticism for AI-generated voice lines heard in the shooter, and after the game became a success, some of those lines were re-recorded by human voice actors.

Soderlund later admitted those new recordings sounded better, which is at least one surprisingly grounded verdict in a debate that usually arrives wearing a business plan and a PowerPoint deck.