Xbox is planning to revive old classic games using AI

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios alongside Ninja Theory is working on a Generative AI Model called Muse. The model is trailed on Ninja Theory’s multiplayer game and is claimed to help with video game preservation. The AI is designed for gameplay idealization which aims to help boost the ‘creative vision and artistry’ of game developers.

“Today, countless classic games tied to aging hardware are no longer playable by most people. 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 said in an official blog post.

While Xbox did share some clips of generated gameplay, the AI model is still very early in development. The game preservation aspect for now remains a goal to be achieved with the company aiming to replicate these games using AI across any hardware. Although people would argue that there are better ways to do so.

Game preservation remains an important topic

Video game preservation has been a very important topic in the gaming community, especially when people are moving more and more toward older games compared to new releases. The 2024 Steam year-end stats revealed that people are more interested in visiting older games rather than playing new ones.

The stats revealed only 15% of users played the games released in 2024 while a whooping 47% chose games released up to 7 years back. Over 37% were playing games released more than 8 years ago on Steam. GOG is currently working on a game preservation campaign and making classic games compatible with modern hardware.

Also Read: No one wants to play new video games: Steam year-end stats reveal

Why is Generative AI hated?

There are a lot of reasons behind the Generative AI hate with the main ones being the use of copyrighted material without permission and the companies thinking of it as a replacement for developers or artists, although Xbox may only be talking about optimizing them for modern hardware. While gamers do want to play old games, they aren’t sure if AI will be able to be the ultimate solution.