Everyone cool your jets with the personal attacks or the thread is getting locked.

I'd add my own two cents, but it would veer too far off-topic and would be better suited for the politics board. Which honestly a lot of this thread's commentary seems better suited for.

Gamers: We want cheaper games and we want them being made faster, without compromising on scope and fidelity
Developers: Our budgets are ballooning and development times take a long time, however we can't make games more expensive, maybe AI could help us out
Gamers: No, you can't use that tool, you have to use people.

Anyway, on topic the use of AI in Expedition 33 was really minimal and removed from the final product. It was also by far the best game this year. AI is a tool and the market decides how that tool is used. The real question for those who complaint about using it, are you willing to pay premium for games from studios who are not using AI, or accept smaller scoped games? If not the technology is not your enemy. Development budgets will continue to rise if we stick to the old methods and that's an unsustainable path for the industry. 

Well said.  And 33 was nothing short of fantastic.  Still blows my mind it was made for 10 million when other games were made for 100+.  

This is 100% fake news

How so?  It is being reported as less than 10 million.  The studio is lying?

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/clair-obscur-expedition-33-budget-was-under-10-million-report/1100-6536874/

They never claimed this is the budget. It's a rumor that started and was spread as a fact by internet 

Have any evidence?  

New York Times published it was 10 million and said the number was straight from Sand Fall.

I am happy to see data that the claimed number is not true, but that requires evidence.

NYC was the original source, which states 10 million was specifically development costs 

The issues here is people are ignoring publishing costs, which can be even higher than development costs

There are at least 300 people involved in this game when counting outsourcing and publishing workers, as well as voice actors and translators, also ignoring the money spent on advertising

This remembers when Pokemon costs were leaked, and people saw the development costs ignoring the marketing costs (as well as the localization costs) 

No idea, not my expertise.  But for argument sake multiply by 5 and get 50 million..  compared to spider, ratchet, rebirth, etc...  still crazy impressive since those are all 100+ million.  I guess it shows what happens when worthless filler isn't a focus.