The Expanse: Osiris Reborn’s Development Involved Generative AI For Prototypes, Placeholders

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I was really interested to hear that Owlcat Games, the studio behind The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, has been experimenting with generative AI! They’ve confirmed they used it during development, but it’s cool to know it was mostly for early stuff like quickly making prototypes and temporary assets. The good news for us fans is that the final game won’t actually contain any AI-generated art or content – it’s all made by the team themselves, which I appreciate!

According to Eurogamer, Popp explained that they aren’t creating final in-game assets with the current tools. Instead, they’re using it for early experimentation, quick tests, and temporary stand-ins, all of which will be replaced later.

We mainly use it for technical experimentation – things like visualizing a 2D image in 3D or testing different color schemes to see what works best. It helps us quickly refine our work. However, we aren’t using it for writing or creating voices; everything you’ll see in the final product will be entirely created by humans.

Interestingly, the studio had hinted at using AI as early as 2024 in a job posting. They were seeking a concept artist who would use AI, along with other tools, to create initial designs. After some negative reactions, Owlcat Games released a statement addressing the situation.

The studio explained they’re using AI to help with a future project, currently in the beginning phases of development – likely The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, which wasn’t public knowledge at the time. They clarified that AI will only be used to support creative work – things like exploring ideas, finding inspiration, and organizing visuals – before the actual design process begins, and to generally make internal workflows faster.

Okay, so good news for anyone worried about AI art – the final game is going to be 100% made with original art from real artists. We’re committed to that. We didn’t use any AI-generated stuff for the concepts either. And just to be clear, we haven’t used AI at all on our current projects like Rogue Trader and Pathfinder. Everything you see in those games is hand-crafted!

I’ve been following the news about how game developers are starting to use AI, and it’s really interesting! I recently heard from Bethesda, and Todd Howard, who leads the studio, talked about something that really stuck with me. He said that even with all this new tech, it’s super important to still have that ‘artistic intention’ – basically, making sure the game still feels like it was made with a creative vision, not just by a computer. It’s good to know they’re thinking about that!

We’re approaching this very carefully,” Howard explained. “We see it as a way to analyze game data – a tool, like having an extra analyst. We’re not using it to create content. We believe that artistic vision is crucial to our work, and to the work of others in the industry.

Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar Games’ parent company), recently stated that Rockstar isn’t using generative AI in the creative process for Grand Theft Auto 6. Similarly, Krafton has confirmed that their game Project Windless, announced in February, is also being developed without generative AI.

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2026-03-27 14:11