Saber, the developer behind the upcoming Rideshare “Stimulator” video game, is being accused of replacing its writers with AI.
The accusation was made Tuesday by Stella Sacco, who says she was fired back in December 2023 while the game was still under development.
“I was lead writer on this one! And Saber replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development,” Sacco wrote on Bluesky.
“All the passenger voices were AI too,” she added. “Either they changed direction at some point or they’re not disclosing it on Steam.”
Initially, Saber CEO Matthew Karch denied the allegations in unremarkable fashion.
“Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI,” he told The Verge, referring to the development studio and game engine maker it’s partnered with.
But as the drama grew, so did his temper. In a fiery statement this Thursday to This Week In Video Games, he lashed out and demeaned Sacco, making vicious and petulant remarks about her time at the company. He came off, in other words, like a complete sociopath.
“Stella who? I had to ask Claude because I have never spoken to her or seen her,” he fumed. “We have already said we are using AI for certain parts of the game and will update the Steam page once we have finalized the feature set.”
“As far as Stella is concerned, she was replaced by someone more talented and terminated for a variety of reasons a few months later,” he continued. “From what I can gather she enjoys controversy even more than I do. I would frankly in retrospect have been happy to replace her with AI. At least we would be dealing with someone programmed to be honest.”
Rideshare “Stimulator,” according to Saber, is an “immersive driving simulation game that puts you behind the wheel as a rideshare business owner.”
A trailer for the video game was released at the end of last month, and appears to contain dialogue that’s both written and voiced by AI. This seemed to go unnoticed when it first dropped, but since Sacco made her claims, the tide of comments on the trailer have turned negative, loudly decrying its alleged use of AI.
“This game is AI slop btw,” one warned other viewers. Another stated that, “when you replace your writers with AI midway through development, that’s a no-sale.” One simply called the game “Layoff ‘Simulator.’”
Steam, the massive digital storefront, requires all titles to divulge if they include AI-generated content, but the game’s current listing doesn’t have any AI disclaimer.
Karch admitted to The Verge that the game “incorporates AI,” but wasn’t specific about the type of AI being used.
“The game will also feature an experimental, free-ride mode that by necessity incorporates AI as the number of passengers in the game is infinite,” Karch told The Verge in a statement made before his recent escalatory remarks. “We are firm believers in using AI tools to improve or enhance gameplay experiences and improve NPC behavior as we have done since Saber was founded in 2001.”
Steam users quickly caught on to this admission. IGN spotted that the platform’s forum for Rideshare “‘Slopulator,’” as one angry wordsmith of a gamer put it, is now overrun with posts blasting the game’s AI usage.
Sacco is sticking to her guns after Karch’s crashout of a denial.
“I’ve seen the statement by Matt Karch, the CEO of Saber Entertainment, and all of the truly horrendous things he said about me,” she told TWIV in a followup statement. “I think it should be obvious to anyone who reads that statement that he’s lashing out because he did not want people to know there was AI use in the game.”
“That statement is remarkably pathetic for the CEO of any company to be making, and combined with the AI use it will do far more damage to Saber’s reputation than it ever could mine,” she added. “This screed will be many people’s first exposure to the Saber brand.”
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