Firms pumping tons of of billions in funding into new generative AI instruments and LLM fashions market it as a sea change know-how that will probably be as revolutionary because the introduction of the desktop laptop. Even some recreation trade figures imagine it would usher in a brand new period wherein video games are made higher, faster, and extra cheaply, democratizing improvement for creatives with out hundred-person groups behind them. For indie writer Tim Bender, the current explosion in AI slop has been nothing however a headache. “If I sound frustrated, it’s because, like, honestly, all this thing has done is made our lives more difficult.”
The label he helps run as CEO, Hooded Horse, struck gold after signing the medieval base-builder mega hit Manor Lords, however its library of printed video games has grown far past it up to now two years with releases just like the Lego-like tower-defense recreation Cataclismo, the financial administration sim Employees & Sources: Soviet Republic, and the 4X sequel Infinite Legend 2. Being technique video games isn’t the one factor all of them have in frequent. Additionally they all adhere to a strict ban on generative AI artwork.
Battlefield 6 is getting accused of utilizing Gen AI. pic.twitter.com/fa2E79X8as
— Shooter Intel (@ShooterIntel) December 22, 2025
“I fucking hate gen AI art and it has made my life more difficult in many ways…suddenly it infests shit in a way it shouldn’t,” Bender advised me in a current interview. “It is now written into our contracts if we’re publishing the game, ‘no fucking AI assets.’”
It seems that simply saying no to gen AI is the simple half. Truly making an attempt to implement a ban is the place issues can get tough. There’s no magical machine you possibly can put a recreation by way of to detect if it has generative AI content material in it. Platforms like Steam, which require disclosures for the usage of such content material, mainly function on good religion that builders will probably be trustworthy about what’s of their video games. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 briefly had AI placeholder artwork in a single a part of the sport at launch earlier than it was finally pulled, however that field on the Steam web page was by no means checked.
Manufacturing could be messy sufficient even inside small studios. Improvement groups working with freelancers or outsource firms, as many indies do, could have an excellent tougher time sustaining checks all through the manufacturing pipeline to weed out any gen AI artwork utilization.
“[Gen AI art] is cancerous”
“We’ve gotten to the point where we also talk to developers and we recommend they don’t use any gen AI anywhere in the process because some of them might otherwise think, ‘Okay, well, maybe what I’ll do is for this place, I’ll put it as a placeholder,’ right?” Bender advised me. “Like some, people will have this thought, like they would never want to let it in the game, but they’ll think, ‘It can be a placeholder in this prototype build.’ But if that gets done, of course, there’s a chance that that slips through, because it only takes one of those slipping through in some build and not getting replaced or something.”
He continued, “because of that, we’re constantly having to watch and deal with it and try to prevent it from slipping in, because it’s cancerous.”
Hooded Horse, which already this yr helped usher the grand technique sci-fi recreation Terra Invicta out of Early Entry and into its 1.0 launch, employs two full-time artists who assist with the entire writer’s advertising and marketing artwork, which might embrace appearances in showcases and bulletins for issues like Xbox Recreation Go launches. “It would be a betrayal of them to work with anything that is using gen-AI art, like, I wouldn’t be able to face them if we had that right. And we’re absolutely committed ethically, for all the reasons you know, against this,” Bender stated.
His standpoint isn’t one you hear an entire lot among the many online game trade’s giants. EA is all in on the potential for AI to make its loot-box-driven sports activities franchises much more profitable. Embark Studios, maker of final yr’s mega-hit Arc Raiders, continues to shrug off complaints in regards to the recreation’s use of generative-AI voice performances.
“We don’t use AI to not have to hire people or replace people or job groups or voice actors,” CEO Patrick Söderlund not too long ago advised GamesBeat. “People have to take a step back and understand what it is and how it can be a big help to developers and be a tremendous benefit to players. I realize it is an intricate subject and discussion.”
It’s about good ethics, not unhealthy PR
There’s additionally a way amongst some builders that everybody else is dashing to embrace the AI revolution, and anybody who doesn’t will discover themselves left behind in a panorama that’s more and more aggressive and hostile to new recreation releases. “Korea is reportedly one of the countries where ChatGPT is used most actively,” Sean Kim, the co-CEO of Lies of P writer Neowiz, advised Game Informer. “It’s hard to find a game company here today that isn’t using AI in some way. At the very least, companies are using either ChatGPT or Gemini.”
Even some acclaimed GOTY winners have been captured by this mindset. “Our successes come from empowering people to work in their own way and bring the best out of their skill & craft, so that we can make the best RPGs we can possibly make,” Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke posted on X last month. “In that context, it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies. However, our processes are always evolving, and where they are not efficient or fail to align with who we are, we will make changes.”
Holy fuck guys we’re not “pushing exhausting” for or changing idea artists with AI.
We have now a workforce of 72 artists of which 23 are idea artists and we’re hiring extra. The artwork they create is unique and I’m very happy with what they do.
I used to be requested explicitly about idea artwork…
— Swen Vincke @the place? (@LarAtLarian) December 16, 2025
The Larian Studios cofounder was responding to controversy that had erupted over earlier remarks that prompt gen-AI can be used within the making of the studio’s subsequent RPG, Divinity. Vincke promised no gen-AI property within the completed recreation however prompt artists would possibly experiment with it throughout the exploratory section of improvement. For Hooded Horse, the problem with gen AI isn’t nearly skepticism over its usefulness or potential backlash from gamers, it’s in regards to the ethical points surrounding instruments skilled on plagiarizing different folks’s work.
“When it comes to gen-AI, it’s not a PR issue, it’s an ethics issue,” Bender stated. “The reality is, there’s so much of it going on that the commitment just has to be that you won’t allow it in the game, and if it’s ever discovered, because this artist that was hired by this outside person slipped something in, you get it out and you replace it. That has to be the commitment. It’s a shame that it’s even necessary and it’s a very frustrating thing to have to worry about.”
