Former Saber Writer Says She Was Replaced by ChatGPT on Rideshare Game
A former lead writer at Saber Interactive has claimed she was replaced by ChatGPT midway through development of the studio's upcoming ridesharing game, Rideshare 'Stimulator'.
Stella Sacco wrote on Bluesky that Saber replaced her on the project with AI writing tools during development. She posted a screenshot of a December 2023 Facebook message in which she said she had been replaced on one of her games "with ChatGPT." Sacco also claimed that all passenger voices in Rideshare 'Stimulator' were AI-generated.
According to Sacco, the decision was pushed by Saber CEO Matt Karch. She said her direct boss repeatedly argued against the move, telling a C-level executive that Sacco was good at the work. The executive, she said, insisted that "gamers love new tech" and that using AI would be "great marketing." Sacco claimed she warned Karch directly that players hated AI in December 2023 and would hate it even more by the time the game released.
Saber Interactive has denied replacing Sacco or any other writer with AI. In a statement provided to PC Gamer, the studio said that "neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI for Rideshare or any other game." Unigine is the engine developer collaborating on the project. Saber also stated that its writing staff has tripled since 2023 and that Rideshare's story was written entirely by human writers.
The studio did confirm, however, that AI is being used in the game's development — something not disclosed on Rideshare's Steam page as of the report's publication. Saber said the game will feature an "experimental, free-ride mode" that incorporates AI because the number of possible passengers is functionally infinite. The studio described its broader AI use as a tool to "improve or enhance gameplay experiences and improve NPC behaviour," referring to non-player characters controlled by the game rather than a person.
Steam, Valve's PC games storefront, requires developers to disclose when a game uses AI-generated content, though the Rideshare page had not yet been updated at the time of reporting.
Rideshare 'Stimulator' has also drawn attention for a different reason. CEO Matt Karch confirmed that jokes in the game's trailer were aimed at Gearbox president Randy Pitchford, in response to criticism of former parent company Embracer Group that appeared in Borderlands 4. Saber was previously part of Embracer, the Swedish holding company that broke up its holdings in 2024 after years of cost-cutting.
The competing claims from Sacco and Saber point to a tension the games industry has been navigating since generative AI tools became widely accessible: studios looking to cut costs or experiment with new technology, and the writers and developers whose roles may shift or disappear as a result.
For now, Saber says its writers are human and its AI use is limited. Sacco says otherwise. The game's Steam disclosure remains blank.
(VGC)
