# NVIDIA ACE review (2026)

> NVIDIA's digital human and NPC middleware: Audio2Face, speech, on-device models.

NVIDIA ACE is a set of SDKs and models for digital humans, including Audio2Face facial animation, speech recognition and on-device language models for NPCs.

**Best for:** Studios building high-end, on-device AI characters.

**Make AI Games score:** 81/100 (facts-based; hands-on test pending)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Website | https://developer.nvidia.com/ace |
| Status | Active |
| Categories | NPCs & dialogue, Animation & mocap |
| Pricing | Free tier; Free |
| Commercial use | Allowed |
| Engines | Unreal |
| Exports | Unverified |
| Skill level | advanced |
| Last verified | 2026-10-21 |

## Score breakdown

- Accessibility: 74/100
- Output & integration: 44/100
- Commercial rights: 100/100
- Value: 100/100
- Maturity: 100/100
- Game focus: 100/100
- Features: 77/100

## Features

- Unreal SDK: Yes
- Built-in voice: Yes (Riva text-to-speech is one of the ACE components)
- Long-term memory: Partly (Beta Game Agent SDK can save and reload conversations between sessions; long-term recall is up to you)
- NPCs trigger game actions: Partly (Tool calls through the beta Game Agent SDK for C/C++ engines; needs a recent NVIDIA GPU)
- Runs on device: Yes (Nemotron 4B on-device SLM; local Audio2Face-3D plugins need an NVIDIA GPU)
- Multiple people at once: Partly (Faces only: Audio2Face can animate several characters from separate audio streams at once)
- Hand or face tracking: Partly (Audio-driven facial animation only (Audio2Face); no hand animation found)
- Retarget to your own rig: Partly (Facial animation only: works with any character and custom blendshape sets)
- Real-time: Yes

## Pricing plans

- Free: free (Unreal and Maya plugins MIT-licensed; NIM containers under NVIDIA terms)

License note: The Unreal/Maya plugins and Audio2Face-3D SDK are MIT, and Audio2Face models use the NVIDIA Open Model License (commercially usable, NVIDIA claims no ownership of outputs); NIM containers fall under NVIDIA's software licence, and Audio2Emotion may only be used within Audio2Face.

Pending verification: exports.

## Sources

- https://developer.nvidia.com/ace
- https://developer.nvidia.com/ace-for-games
- https://docs.nvidia.com/ace/latest/workflows/kairos/kairos-unreal-plugin.html
- https://docs.nvidia.com/ace/ace-unreal-plugin/2.5/ace-unreal-plugin-changelog.html
- https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-decoded-gamescom-ace-nemotron-instruct
- https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/deploy-the-first-on-device-small-language-model-for-improved-game-character-roleplay
- https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nim/nvidia/containers/audio2face-3d/-/governing-terms
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/ACE
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/game-agent-sdk/blob/main/docs/sphinx/source/agent-deep-dive.md
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/game-agent-sdk
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/Audio2Face-3D-SDK
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/Maya-ACE
- https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/agreements/enterprise-software/nvidia-open-model-license/

Canonical: https://makeaigames.com/tools/nvidia-ace