- Microsoft has announced new AI project called Muse in partnership with Xbox Game Studios’ Ninja Theory
- The generative AI model has a "detailed understanding of the 3D game world" that could help game developers
- Muse could also preserve classic games for future generation
Microsoft has unveiled its new generative AI project called Muse which it says will be used to help studios create gameplay and preserve classic titles.
In partnership with Xbox Game Studios’ Ninja Theory and Microsoft Research, Muse was trained on the developer's multiplayer battle arena game, Bleeding Edge, and is said to have a "detailed understanding of the 3D game world" that is aware of game physics and players' controller actions.
"This allows the model to create consistent and diverse gameplay rendered by AI, demonstrating a major step toward generative AI models that can empower game creators," Microsoft said in its announcement post.
The company is already using Muse to develop a real-time playable AI model that is being trained on other first-party games and provided footage showing the model's capabilities in the blog post.
Microsoft also believes it can one day benefit players and developers and even preserve classic games.
"Today, countless classic games tied to aging hardware are no longer playable by most people," it said. "Thanks to this breakthrough, we are exploring the potential for Muse to take older back catalog games from our studios and optimize them for any device.
"We believe this could radically change how we preserve and experience classic games in the future and make them accessible to more players."
Xbox boss Phil Spencer expanded on what this means in the attached announcement video, saying that Muse has the potential to "learn about older games" from older hardware.
"...I think about an opportunity to have models learn about older games, games that were maybe tied to unique pieces of hardware where that engine on that hardware..." Spencer said. "Time will erode the amount of hardware that's out there that can actually play a game.
Spencer also suggested that AI could make older games "portable to any platform where these models could run."
"...We've talked about game preservation as an activity for us, and these models and their ability to learn completely how a game plays, without the necessity of the original engine running on the original hardware, I think opens up a ton of opportunity."
It's still early days, according to Microsoft, but more information about Muse is expected at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2025.
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