Arc Raiders boss praises AI for making it much cheaper to develop the game

Patrick Soderlund, CEO of Embark Studios, says his company used AI to significantly lower the development costs of their games, Arc Raiders and The Finals.

Nexon’s new executive chairman, Owen Mahony (formerly Soderland), recently shared his thoughts on artificial intelligence with GamesRadar+. He believes many large companies are mismanaging their approach to AI and outlined how to do it effectively.

Companies all have strategies, but many of them won’t succeed. They’re spending a lot of money on technology, but that won’t solve the problem because they haven’t correctly identified what they’re trying to achieve. While there’s a rush to adopt AI, success won’t go to those who jump in first – it will go to those who truly understand the core issue they’re addressing.

Arc Raiders was made at a “fraction” of the cost of AAA games

Soderland explained that AI was key to creating popular shooters like The Finals and Arc Raiders, helping them simplify and speed up development.

Embark began by re-evaluating its entire process, asking fundamental questions like how to move a concept into production and determining which tasks are best handled by people versus automated systems. AI plays a role in this approach, according to Soderland.

Ultimately, it’s about helping people work more effectively by adopting improved methods and tools, and by breaking free from outdated routines.

This strategy proved successful for Embark, and the CEO shared that they managed to develop both of their shooting games at a lower cost compared to similar large-scale titles.

The first results of this new approach are two games: THE FINALS and ARC Raiders. Both were created with smaller teams and much lower budgets than typical high-end, AAA titles.

As a big fan of Arc Raiders, I remember when there was some talk about the game using AI-generated voices at first. Some people weren’t thrilled with how they sounded. But the cool thing is, once the game really took off, the developers brought in real voice actors to re-record those lines! Even the game’s creator, Soderland, said the new recordings definitely sound much better – and I totally agree!

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2026-04-02 12:52