Ubisoft Debuts Prototype Game With Voice-Controlled AI Teammates
Ubisoft’s closed-playtest FPS drops AI squadmates into Snowdrop-powered missions to probe voice-directed, generative play and its creative limits.
Summary
- Ubisoft unveiled Teammates, a closed-playtest shooter prototype built in the Snowdrop engine and powered by Google Gemini
- The project explores “generative play,” allowing players to issue natural voice commands to AI squadmates like Pablo and Sofia
- The R&D aims to fold the tech into future AAA titles; the CEO compares the impact of generative AI to the “shift to 3D”
Ubisoft has unveiled Teammates, a closed-playtest prototype that drops generative AI companions into a classic first-person shooter framework to explore what it calls “generative play.” Built in the Snowdrop engine and powered by Google Gemini plus in-house middleware, Teammates lets players issue natural voice commands that AI squadmates interpret using tone, intent and environmental context.
The core trio is Jaspar, a chatty in-game assistant that can tweak HUD and settings, surface lore, and guide lost players, alongside cyborg teammates Pablo and Sofia, who take cover, flank, solve puzzles, and even riff off each other’s personalities in real time.
Ubisoft frames the project as R&D rather than a product launch. The publisher is gathering feedback from “a few hundred” closed testers to refine the tech before folding it into future AAA titles across Snowdrop and Anvil.
Internally, leadership is talking in big swings. CEO Yves Guillemot has compared generative AI’s impact on games to “the shift to 3D,” while director of gameplay GenAI Xavier Manzanares calls Teammates a way to test if voice-led play can genuinely make players “feel like a leader.” Narrative director Virginie Mosser stresses that writers still define character sheets, lore, and emotional guardrails so NPCs can improvise within constraints, arguing that the goal is to “give AI meaning” rather than replace human creativity.
For a culture that side-eyes corporate AI hype, Teammates lands in a fraught moment. It hints at more reactive, accessible solo play, but also fuels debates around labor, authorship, and how far AI should sit on the front line of game design.
