Earlier this month, Junghun Lee — CEO of Nexon, the parent company behind the current live-action shooter du jour Archers — made waves in the game development community with his simple statement. “You have to assume that every game company is using artificial intelligence these days,” he explained. Independent developers were quick and loud to call out the bullshit. “It’s simply not true” – Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou, co-founder Argument AND Destroyed by myth developer Polygonal tree housesays Edge.
As similar reactions emerged on social media, many developers said that avoiding generative AI was not only a matter of personal pride, but also a matter of professional marketing – the kind that developers apply to let their players know that their games were created by humans.
For Kanaris-Sotiriou, the question about using Gen.’s artificial intelligence to create games was simple to answer. “The foundations on which it is built, the idea of using other people’s work without permission to create works of art […] are unfair,” he says.
Lee’s comments are the latest in a string of comments prominent gaming CEOs declaring it AI gene is the future of the medium. However, Kanaris-Sotiriou, like many of his colleagues in game development, wanted to refute this claim. So earlier this year, they collaborated on a solution — a uncomplicated image file gold seal in the shape of a gear wheel which stated: “This developer assures that no artificial intelligence of any generation has been used in this indie game.”
They created an image (which Kanaris-Sotiriou corrected to make sure it’s not too similar the more familiar stamp of approval) freely available to any studio for apply in marketing materials, websites or game pages. While Kanaris-Sotiriou doesn’t have challenging numbers on its apply, the seal does appear on store pages for Rose water, Astral Ascension, Lodgingand more. In Bluesky thread announcing the creation of the sealmany third-party developers have reported putting it on their Itch.io and Steam sites, where it defies the platform’s AI gene disclosure policies.
Other developers are adopting their own tailor-made solutions that serve both an informational function against gene AI and a philosophical one.
“Absolutely everything in Unbeatable was created by humans, without any creative assistance” reads graphics posted by D-Cell Games on Bluesky about the upcoming game Matchless. The image was created specifically in response to Lee’s comments. “Every frame drawn, every word written, every model sculpted, every line of code typed, every song sung with a real voice, every guitar played with a real hand, every flawed and sloppy moment, because we are too“
While other developers have taken a uncomplicated, declarative approach against generational AI, the passion in D-Cell’s statement is obvious and almost sounds like a challenge to those who apply these tools. “Ignoring all the ethical, moral and legal concerns surrounding the use of generative AI, it is a huge waste of effort,” says Jeffrey Chiao, studio producer at D-Cell Games, in an email to Edge. “We can achieve results that meet our quality standards without his help.”
Generation AI enthusiasts see the technology as a way to unlock hidden artistic potential, and for many, it’s a tool to speed up the time-consuming and costly processes inherent in video game production. Some of the biggest companies take advantage of this; EA, for example, announced its collaboration with Stability AI, while Microsoft uses artificial intelligence to generate gameplay.
Ubisoft in particular had a lot to say about the AI generation CEO Yves Guillemot calls it “so big [of] revolution for our industry with the move to 3D” in a recent earnings call. Players can chat with Ubisoft’s AI-powered Neo NPCs using the company’s Ghostwriter tool generates short pieces of dialogue called barks. Subnautics 2 AND PUBG publisher Krafton suggested to his employees that they voluntarily resign from their positions if they don’t endure the new “AI first” corporate reorganization. Meanwhile, Gen. AI resources are emerging in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (and again in Black Ops 7), Year 117: Pax Romana, Altera, Finals, Archers, InZoi, and more.
Video game development budgets are growing and games are taking longer to release. A tool that can help bring games to market faster and cheaper is an attractive proposition – especially in the indie space, where the investment has been significantly depleted and smaller teams require developers to perform multiple tasks. And while generative AI is being used at all levels of the industry (with notable exceptions), the loudest opposition comes from the space that supposedly has the most to gain from it. “The constraints we face as turkeys inspire us to come up with really creative solutions,” says Kanaris-Sotiriou.
“The limitations we face as turkeys inspire us to evolve with truly creative solutions.”
Tom Eastman, president Aces in battle suit developer Trinket Studios, echoes this opinion. He says problems AI gene supposedly solves it’s these things that make game development so rewarding. He talked about how, in the last days of working on the studio’s previous title, Combat Chefs Brigadeseveral key locations in the game had unfinished artwork. Rather than go through the process of creating the hand-drawn line art that dominates the game’s aesthetic, the team opted to apply less time-consuming watercolors instead. “These are interesting, creative decisions that are fun to work on, not ‘here’s a magic box, solve my problems.’
The developers I spoke with admitted that as AI technology improves, the pressure to use it will increase. And while it’s hard to tell in hard numbers, they also see how their official anti-Gen AI declarations have resonated with their players and communities. “It will almost certainly affect all of us at the current rate, but I don’t think what people expect from our work will change because of it,” Chiao says. “So we don’t give up and we’ll keep doing things our way – it’ll be more fun that way.”