S.Korea's game companies wage all-out offensive to recruit AI talent

The race in South Korea to secure artificial intelligence (AI) know-how in the video game industry, the hottest trend in the field, is intensifying competition to recruit talent in AI and machine learning.

This is because generative AI not only promises better developmental efficiency but also higher content immersion.

Industry sources on Sunday said Krafton, Inc. since June 1 has recruited AI engineers specializing in deep learning to develop a life simulation game incorporating AI technology. Players live within a virtual reality game and perform tasks like getting a job or making friends.

This genre, whose flagship product is the Sims series, which has earned over $5 billion in sales, is expected to see the most benefits after the dawn of the era of extended reality and the metaverse, both of which span virtual and augmented reality.

Krafton Inc. is also developing virtual friends using generative AI as game characters for commercial launch next year. They not only communicate with players through voice and text but also display facial expressions and actions that match a chat's context, with AI moving like real humans and participating in the game.

"We are at the stage of reviewing which games to apply virtual friend technology to," a Krafton source said. "A character with this technology can serve as a guide for novices."

Netmarble Corp., which stresses mobile games that focus on popularity, is also recruiting AI talent in areas such as simulation and voice processing to boost the efficiency of voice and animation production with generative AI.

NCSoft Corp. in 2011 set up an AI development division to focus efforts on language translation. It also has its own large language model, the basis for generative AI, and plans this year to apply generative AI to in-game code writing and game design.

Smilegate is recruiting machine learning experts, having earlier secured AI-based technology to generate voices and facial expressions for game characters.

Write to Ju-Hyun Lee at deep@hankyung.com