Space Marine 3 Dev Tries to Put Generative AI Fears to Rest After Public Outcry

Last month, Rideshare developer Saber Interactive came under some serious heat after an ex employee outed the game's use of generative AI.

The whole thing devolved into a crazy public spat, in which Saber's CEO went overboard in the defence of his company.

It should be noted that said CEO, Matthew Karch, later issued a private apology to former writer Stella Sacco — but the damage had been done in terms of Saber's current reputation.

Indeed, with Rideshare now openly making use of gen-AI, the developer's other projects have attracted intense scrutiny. Questions are being raised around upcoming titles like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3, Hellraiser: Revival, and Jurassic Park: Survival.

In particular, Space Marine 3 has become a hot topic — not just because Space Marine 2 is a certified banger, but because Warhammer creator Games Workshop has explicitly stated that it's avoiding the use of AI in any of its creative endeavours.

Fortunately, IGN caught up with Saber development chief Tim Willits at Gamescom, and so now we've got a little more insight into the company's methods.

When asked about gen-AI, Willits responded: "There is absolutely no generative AI in Space Marine 3 or Hellraiser or Stuntman or Turok or Jurassic Park, or Wick."

Of course, these are all based on established licensed properties, and so you'd expect Saber to dodge potential controversies.

However, when it comes to Saber's own pursuits, Willits' comments are a bit more open to interpretation: "But like we said, we're going to experiment with [AI]. Try it out in Rideshare, see if it works. See if people like it. If they don't like it, we're like, ‘All right'."

Just to be clear, Saber Interactive is made up of numerous studios spread across the globe — it's not like there's just one outfit working on all of these projects.

Willits goes on to say that Rideshare is very much an "experiment". The driving simulator is supposed to park on PS5 this year, while the likes of Space Marine 3 and the big John Wick game are still in very early development, ages away from release.

How do you feel about all of this? Wonder what the future holds for Saber's output in the comments section below.