Ubisoft Unveils “Teammates” – Prototype Game With AI Teammates
Credit: Ubisoft
Following Neo NPC, French publisher and developer Ubisoft has unveiled Teammates, a new experiment designed to evaluate the potential of generative AI to enhance the gaming experience.
According to Ubisoft, the Teammates developers have three main objectives: assess the capabilities and limits of direct speech interaction, explore the potential of generative AI to create a deeply immersive experience, and test unique mechanics enabled exclusively by this technology. The initiative will “add depth to gameplay” by turning NPCs into “true teammates.”
The Teammates developers have cautioned that the project is primarily experimental and exploratory, although a demo is still playable. Players are placed in a first-person shooter and tasked with finding missing allies. Assisting the player are a voice-activated AI assistant, Yaspar, and two NPC operatives, Pablo and Sofia.
Those responsible for Teammates are aware of the criticism leveled at AI in games. But they emphasize that their goal is not to hand over the creative process to machines, but to find ways to improve it by combining the benefits of technology and human creativity with human ingenuity.
Hundreds of players have already tried Teammates in closed trials. The team aims to further test and develop the technology, including through feedback from real people.
