Xbox AI Plans Could Bring Back More Classic Games

Xbox's research team collaborated with Xbox Game Studios' Ninja Theory to develop a Generative AI model named Muse, and it could be used to bring older games back to life on various gaming platforms. Although Muse appears to be a multifaceted creation tool, right now, Xbox has emphasized a focus on the enhancement and preservation of older games for accessibility.

There are plenty of game developers that have decided to experiment with what Generative AI can offer. Although many devs seem to understand groups of fans who do not want AI used in the content creation process of development, studios like Capcom have decided to develop prototypes capable of streamlining more tedious and less creative aspects such as building a database or writing a proposal. Now, even bigger companies are starting to show what they've been working on within the AI space.

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By  Viraaj Bhatnagar

Xbox just introduced its Generative AI model Muse to the public, and it seems like the technology could be focused on bringing a broader span of classic games back to newer hardware. Microsoft Research published a study focused on outlining the possibilities of Generative AI within the creative field in the science journal Nature. The study was a partnership between the research team and Ninja Theory centering on a World and Human Action Model named Muse that was trained on the game Bleeding Edge.

Xbox May Use AI to Revive Older Games

By training Muse on Bleeding Edge, these teams were able to produce an AI with an understanding of 3D game world mechanics, physics, and the process of players taking actions on a controller. While Muse may have plenty of potential in the creation space, the team at Ninja Theory stressed that this model is not being used to generate content, but instead for workflows and strategies to optimize development. The team stated that because Muse can develop an understanding of game worlds and play in real-time, it could be used as a catchall tool for optimizing older games for any device.

This study began as a process of interviews between 27 indie and AAA game development companies to understand how to use Generative AI to help developers come up with ideas and flesh them out. In addition to publishing the detailed findings in Nature along with explanations for more casual readers through the press, Microsoft also released Muse and its specifications on Azure AI Foundry, potentially opening the experimentation process up to a much larger pool of developers who could expand on those findings. Although many people are skeptical about what AI can do in the entertainment space, it appears that Microsoft intends to explore this avenue further.