Home > Business > Industry

Bad at PUBG? Krafton and Nvidia's new AI gamer can help you out.

Published: 07 Jan. 2025, 18:47 Updated: 07 Jan. 2025, 18:52

CHO YONG-JUN
[email protected]

PUBG Ally, an AI companion developed by Nvidia and Krafton for the battle royale game Player Unknown's Battlegrounds [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Krafton has teamed up with U.S. chip giant Nvidia to develop an AI companion that could make the experience of gaming in your basement less lonely. The new Co-Playable Character (CPC) can play games by your side, providing in-game support and instructions, and even using “game lingo.”

The two parties revealed their AI-powered non-playable character at the CES 2025, which runs in Las Vegas starting Jan. 7.

The autonomous in-game character is powered by an on-device small language model built with Nvidia Ace. Such characters will use AI to “perceive, plan and act like human players,” according to Krafron and Nvidia, providing gaming companion characters “that comprehend and support player goals and enemies that adapt dynamically to player tactics.”

Krafton said its CPC will be implemented in its hit online shooter Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and inZOI, a simulation currently in development at its in-house studio, inZOI Studio.

PUBG Ally, an AI companion developed by Nvidia and Krafton for the battle royale game Player Unknown's Battlegrounds [SCREEN CAPTURE]

PUBG Ally, the name of the CPC set to be integrated into the title later this year, will play on the same team as a human player. In a video released by Nvidia, a human player is seen instructing and ordering the AI player through voice chat, with the AI vocally responding and following the orders.

The model “enables AI teammates to communicate using game-specific lingo, provide real-time strategic recommendations, find and share loot, drive vehicles and fight other human players,” Nvidia said in a press release.

Nvidia Ace, first announced in 2023, implemented a language model to video games to allow nonplayer characters, commonly known as NPCs, to understand and communicate with human players. Traditionally, NPCs have been limited to prewritten interactions: They may be able to follow the player in-game and react to simple commands but are generally limited in their functionality.

The CPC, however, will “understand and respond to game situations in a humanlike manner,” the two companies claim.

“AI is transforming the way games are created and played,” Nvidia Vice President of Developer Relations Keita Iida said.

“We plan to closely collaborate with Nvidia to drive the transformation of the user experience with AI-powered innovation built with Nvidia ACE, such as CPC, that’s poised to redefine the future of gaming,” Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han said.

Nvidia Ace will also be used by Chinese game developer NetEase in its Naraka battle royale game, Wemade’s upcoming Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Mir 5 and Survios’ virtual reality game Alien: Rogue Incursion amongst others.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]