Saber Interactive, the company behind Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, has denied it replaced a writer with ChatGPT, but admitted its new taxi game Rideshare Stimulator uses AI “by necessity.”
Rideshare Stimulator hit the headlines this week when it was confirmed that the game’s reveal trailer featured several deliberate jabs at Borderlands boss Randy Pitchford. These jokes were acknowledged by Rideshare Stimulator’s publisher Saber Interactive via its CEO Matt Karch, who does not seem to be a big Pitchford fan.
But in highlighting Rideshare Stimulator and its cheeky jibes, Saber Interactive also invited criticism from a former writer on the project, Stella Sacco, who claimed she was “replaced” by ChatGPT by Saber while working on the Rideshare Stimulator project at development studio Unigine.
“I didn’t even see this had been announced,” Sacco wrote in a post on social media. “I was lead writer on this one! And Saber replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development. All the passenger voices were AI too. Either they changed direction at some point or they’re not disclosing it on Steam.”
In a follow-up post, Sacco shared a screenshot of a Facebook status dated December 2023, in which she stated: “I got replaced on one of my games at work. With ChatGPT.”
Saber Interactive has since denied this claim, though stated that Rideshare Stimulator does use AI in some form for its passengers, as the game’s free-ride mode features an “infinite” number of characters. That said, the publisher has insisted that no writer had been replaced, and that the game’s “story” had been penned by humans.
“Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI for Rideshare or any other game,” Saber said in a statement to PC Gamer. “In fact, Saber’s staff of writers has tripled since 2023. Rideshare’s story was written entirely by real people.
“The game will also feature an experimental, free-ride mode that by necessity incorporates AI as the number of passengers in the game is infinite. We are firm believers in using AI tools to improve or enhance gameplay experiences and improve NPC behaviour as we have done since Saber was founded in 2001. As the industry has continued to contract, Saber continues to hire. None of our 3,000+ employees have to worry about being replaced by AI.”
Sacco, however, has hit back again — and blamed Saber boss Karch directly for the decision to take her “off the project to use ChatGPT to write the rest of the text, including planned live updates.”
“If they changed plans in the intervening years, that’s great,” Sacco told PC Gamer, “but again: I was there, and it was my job to write the game, and then it wasn’t once Matt Karch decided using ChatGPT would be great publicity for the game.” IGN has contacted Karch for comment.
While Rideshare Stimulator is yet to launch, there’s no sign yet of any AI disclaimer for the game on its Steam page, something that is mandated by the platform’s rules. We’ll update if we hear more. The Steam forum for Rideshare Stimulator is packed with complaints, with many calling for an AI disclosure on Valve’s platform.
“I don’t see AI signified on the Steam page. Don’t lie to your customers,” one person commented. “Putting both the studio and publisher on my ignore list,” another said. “It’s one thing to make a game out of stolen work. It’s another to not even have the decency to tell people. I’ll spend my money elsewhere.”
“Regardless of what truths lie in the story, I as a consumer and enjoyer of video games do not want, nor do I accept products that utilise generative AI slop,” one person added. “I want my video games to be made by humans, to support the industry of artists and talented people, not to perpetuate the human culture theft machine, not to perpetuate the ever rising costs of gaming hardware, not to perpetuate the swathes of environmental damage caused by the AI bubble.
“Saber, as a publisher, you have received a good amount of money from me for Mudrunner, Snowrunner, Expeditions and Roadcraft, but while you continue down this path you will receive no more.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
