An AI Dark Horse Is Rewriting the Rules of Game Design

The video game Valorant, a fast-paced team-based shooter, has recently become a testing ground for a promising new direction in artificial intelligence research. The game’s developers at Riot Games (a Tencent subsidiary) are using 3D-native AI models to prototype new characters, scenes, and storylines, according to a researcher familiar with the company’s efforts who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

While many AI models can generate text, images, and video, Tencent’s Hunyuan (混元 or “first mix”) family of models can dream up 3D objects and interactive scenes. The source says that Tencent’s models are also being used by the developers of another Tencent game, GKART, and by some independent developers, too. Tencent declined to comment.

“The games industry requires a lot of investment,” the source says. “Previously you would need a month to design a character. Now you can just type in some text, and Hunyuan ...