Call Of Duty Uses AI For Some In-Game Assets, Activision Confirms

The use of AI inside of game development is a touchy subject for many fans, including fans of the Call of Duty franchise, which Activision has now confirmed includes some AI-generated content.

Speculation about Activision using AI to create in-game assets started surfacing last year following the launch of Black Ops 6. Fans noticed that certain calling cards and screensavers appeared to have been created with AI. One in particular, the “Zombie Santa” calling card known officially in-game as Necroclaus, featured an extra finger on the right hand. This is more times than not, a dead giveaway that AI was used to create the image. Since AI is well-known not to do well with hands or fingers during image generation.

You can usually spot issues with legs or arms too, and sometimes faces in the background end up looking a little odd. In short, fans noticed immediately, and Activision faced backlash over its use of AI. Fans were more upset by the use of AI to create in-game bundles though. Since these cost CoD Points and CoD Points cost real money. Players weren’t too happy about having spent money on content that AI was used to create, especially since Activision didn’t disclose the use of AI for the content.

There seem to be several factors to Activision opening up about its use of AI. Players noticed months ago that some content was AI-generated. Either completely or partially. Activision was called out but up until now had not confirmed the use of AI. Fans are openly displeased with AI being used to make video games. Activision knows this. To top it all off, however, and what seems to be the reason Activision even mentioned anything, is Valve’s new policy change regarding the use of AI in games that are listed on Steam.

Back on January 9, Valve made a change that required developers and publishers to disclose the use of AI content. Now, if you head to the Black Ops 6 Steam page, there is a small AI disclosure section. “Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in-game assets,” it reads.

Granted, this doesn’t say anything about how much content is AI-generated. That being said, it makes you wonder if Activision would have confirmed its use of AI if it weren’t for this policy.

AI in game development isn’t going anywhere

In fact, it’s highly likely that the use of AI will only increase. Companies like Microsoft have recently laid out plans for their own use of AI in game development. A report from Unity last year also revealed that a considerable amount of game developers use AI in some way during the development process. Players have discussed their distaste for this kind of content in games.

In large part, it’s likely because of the notion that using AI will take away work from real human developers. Additionally, there’s the belief that AI-generated content will be of lower quality. But it’s clear AI isn’t going away. More and more developers are going to start embracing it. Hopefully, that will mostly amount to aiding in parts of the process that aren’t seen by users in the final product.