Xbox is embracing generative AI with Muse – here’s what it means for gamers
Microsoft has announced a new AI model promises to “make things better” for players and creators
🤖 Microsoft has revealed a new generative AI model for Xbox
🗡️ It’s called Muse, and it was trained using Ninja Theory’s battle game, Bleeding Edge
🙌 Muse could take older back catalog games and optimize them for any device
📆 Microsoft has said it will share more details about AI this year
Microsoft’s new generative AI model, Muse, could have big implications for backwards compatibility and the preservation of older games.
The AI technology was trained on Ninja Theory’s multiplayer battle arena game, Bleeding Edge, and will allow game creators to develop a real-time playable AI model and create new gameplay experiences during the creative process.
While that all sounds rather vague and uninteresting for most people, fans of older titles will be pleased that Muse could aid in game preservation. It’s an area that Microsoft has said it’s committed to, even though the ‘back compat’ programme on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S has ended.
As head of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer says in the video below: “One of the things we care a lot about at Xbox is game preservation. And I think about an opportunity where models learn about older games, games that were maybe tied to unique pieces of hardware where that engine on that hardware is kind of… time will erode the amount of hardware that’s out there that will actually play a game.
“But you could imagine a world where, from gameplay data and video, that a model can learn old games and really make them portable to any platform where these models could run. I think that’s really exciting.
“We’ve talked about game preservation as an activity for us, and these models and their ability to learn completely how a game plays, without the necessity of the original engine running on the original hardware, I think opens up a ton of opportunity.”
In a post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft stressed that “game creators will always be the center of our overall AI efforts” and that it believes “there is space for traditional game development and future generative AI technologies that serve as an extension of creative work”.
Microsoft has said that it will reveal more about its AI product innovation, and will provide opportunities for players and creators to experiment with and co-build new AI features. Expect more AI-related announcements this year, and a deeper dive at GDC 2025.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.
