given how KCD-centered my blog is, it would feel weird not to express my opinion about the recent AI situation.
we've all heard Vávra's unhinged AI takes (like saying that maybe if they had used AI, Tom wouldn't have to spent so much time in recording booth. cause god forbid actors have jobs, i guess???), but man, Warhorse actually firing employees because of that is bleak as hell. i feel so sorry for Max, especially since apparently he was fired without any warning. i don't know a thing about the Czech labour law, but if it's possible, i hope he files a lawsuit against WH.
what surprises me is that you'd think that WH know better, given how they came from almost nothing - KCD was crowd-funded, all that they've achieved so far was made possible thanks to hard work of real people. all the money they've made, every single copy of the game that they sold - it's a testiment to the hard work of few hundreds of people at least, some of which have been with the studio from the very beginning. how many times have we heard from from the actors or the devs themselves how talented and dedicated the people working in the studio are? and now we want to throw it all away for some AI slop?
shortly after reading the news, i opened KCD2 and god. this game is so beautiful - the environments, the music, the interface, the voice acting. so much soul in every bit of this game and it's all man-made. some of you might say that translation (because that's what Max was working on) can be automated, but as someone who actually studied translation at university - i don't think AI is able of grasping nuances and contexts well enough to create quality translations. also, have you heard of John Comer, the guy i heard Tom praising in his streams and in interviews numerous times? he's been working on Czech to English translation too, he's actually the one who came up with "yanking my pizzle" phrase and who helped develop accent for Henry, not to mention he's also doing voice acting in the games. do you think AI would be able to replace someone like him? i don't think so.
not so long ago i watched a video about how the European studios are becoming good guys of the gaming industry by delivering high quality products and not being as greedy as the American companies. the author of the video talked about CDPR, Larian and Warhorse, and it sucks to see how 2 of those 3 have been slowly but surely embracing AI. i really wish Warhorse had done the same thing CDPR did and released a clear statement about not planning to replace any of their employees with AI (Polska gurom moment, i suppose).
i want to believe that this whole situation has been caused by pressure from the investors (the same pressure that forced CDPR to release Cyberpunk prematurely and we know how it ended), but i fear it doesn't soften the blow. Warhorse has quickly gained reputation of the player-friendly studio that can create a high quality game with a moderate budget and it pains me to see how they're throwing it all away just like that. at this point i'm glad that there's long way before they release a new game and honestly, if they don't come to their senses, i don't want it to be KCD3 or anything KCD-related. my hope is that when Vávra officially leaves like he's apparently suppose to do, they backtrack from that path, even though i'm aware it's mostly wishful thinking. i just want to keep supporting the talented people who've created my favourite games of all time and i'm afraid that soon those people will loose their job and there won't be anyone left to support.
in short, fuck AI, fuck Vávra, long live the storytellers and the creators. and i'll be naively waiting for a statement from WH
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