Shortly after fears that NEOWIZ and ROUND8 would be making use of generative AI tools for the development of their sequel to Lies of P first came up, thanks to recent job listings, the companies have now offered some clarification on the matter. In a statement to Eurogamer, the studios have said that the “AI creator” job listing on the NEOWIZ website isn’t related to the development of the Lies of P sequel. Rather, it is for an “independent art R&D team at ROUND8”.
This R&D team is described as making use of generative AI to create visuals that will be used “strictly as internal reference” during the pre-production period of the games. The assets used for the training of these AI tools are also noted as being internal, with the companies holding “full legal rights” to them.
“The job posting in question is not a role that will be directly involved in the production of the Lies of P sequel. Instead, they will reside within an independent art R&D team at ROUND8,” said the companies in their statement. “GenAI tools are only used in preliminary stage work to improve efficiency of repetitive, foundational tasks. AI-generated visuals function strictly as internal reference material during pre-production, a method for establishing visual direction before formal production begins.
“The intent is to build a proprietary visual library trained exclusively on assets for which NEOWIZ and ROUND8 hold full legal rights. All final assets for the upcoming game will be created by experienced artists.”
During its recent earnings call, NEOWIZ confirmed that the sequel to Lies of P had gone past its prototyping stage and that the studio had now entered full-scale development on the project. The studio also noted that ROUND8 is part of the project as well, with narrative serving as a “core competency” for the overall team working on the game. The project is being directed by Choi Ji-won. Interestingly, Seung-ho Jin and Kay Lee are working on separate projects as directors, and it is unknown if they will also play a role in building out the narrative for Lies of P 2.
NEOWIZ has made no secret of its larger ambitions. Back in January, co-CEO Sean Kim spoke about how the company wants to introduce more successful IPs over the next few years while maintaining work on the Lies of P to build it as a franchise.
“Our goal is to consistently introduce successful IP that fans will continue to support and look forward to over the long haul, even five or ten years down the line,” said Kim. “Currently, we are internally developing more than five new PC and console titles, while also focusing on discovering global IP through collaborations with Western studios such as Zakazane and Wolfeye. We plan to continue investing in strong partners worldwide as we move forward.”
In the meantime, Lies of P is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. As of March, the Soulslike title had managed to sell more than 4 million copies.