Armed with $5.8 million in funding, gaming startup Liminal Experiences Inc. emerged from stealth on Tuesday to bring user-generated content to video games.

The company, which was founded by Sawtelle-based Riot Games veteran Brendan Mulligan, allows users to build their own role playing-style video games using artificial intelligence tools that create characters, environments and storylines.

The move to use AI is, Mulligan admits, a touchy subject in the gaming industry. The company was founded in 2022, the same year video game actors went on strike to protest the unregulated use of AI in games. In September, after the years-long strike, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said it made deals with 80 games to employ certain AI protections for video game actors.

“AI in gaming is a sensitive topic, as many developers worry about being replaced, and players grapple with its ethical issues,” Mulligan said in a statement. “Wading into the debate is fraught, so most gaming companies avoid discussing AI while quietly exploring options internally. This leaves the public conversation to startups founded by tourists to the industry to pitch their vision of the future.”

Firms work on AI in games

Indeed, AI in video games is here to stay. Sony is working on an AI prototype of one of its PlayStation characters, The Verge reported last week. Both Microsoft and Google have released early-stage concepts of video game AI models.

And investors aren’t swayed by Liminal’s AI play – Riot Games and its founder Marc Merrill were part of the handful of investors that participated in the $5.8 million funding round for Liminal Experiences.

The company is still in development and plans to have an early prototype by 2026.