Nexon uses Arc Raiders and The Finals to sell its AI workflow pitch
Patrick Söderlund told Nexon's capital markets briefing that Embark made both games with far fewer people and at a fraction of the expected AAA cost.
Nexon used Arc Raiders and The Finals as the centerpiece of a broader pitch about AI-assisted development during a capital markets briefing posted on the company’s site. Patrick Söderlund, now Nexon’s executive chairman and CEO of Embark Studios, said the studio focused on what should be done by hand and what a machine could handle more efficiently.
The briefing framed that approach as part of a larger reset in how games get made. Söderlund said the company had to rethink old habits and workflows, then described the result as two games built with far fewer people and at a fraction of the cost usually tied to a AAA project.
Nexon president and CEO Junghun Lee pushed that idea even further. He called Arc Raiders a “Trojan Horse,” arguing that the game serves as proof that AI-backed production can lead to major commercial results while giving developers and live-service teams more time to think through design work instead of spending as much time on repetitive tasks.
The AI angle is not entirely new for Embark. The studio has already faced questions around synthetic voices in Arc Raiders, and Söderlund has since said a real professional actor is better than AI. That makes Nexon’s use of the game as a case study feel even more pointed, since the company is now presenting Embark’s workflow as something other teams inside Nexon should study closely.
The message from the briefing was simple enough. Nexon wants its developers to look hard at how they work, not just what they are building, and Embark’s two big releases are now being held up as the proof of that argument.
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