Activision admits GenAI tools already in use for Call of Duty development

Gamers have made it well known that they don't want to see gaming flooded with titles that make heavy use of generative AI. As it turns out, one of the biggest games in the world, Call of Duty, is already there. Activision has admitted that it has begun using AI to produce a range of in-game assets for Black Ops 6. 

How did this admission come about? Well, Valve recently updated its Steam policy, demanding that developers disclose any use of Generative AI in a sub-section of their game's Steam listing. As a result, the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Steam page has been updated with the following disclosure: “Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in-game assets.”

Ultimately, Black Ops 6 is still a project with thousands of developers assigned to it. However, in-game assets like calling cards, stickers and even some skins have been created using AI.

According to Insider Gaming, last year's holiday-themed ‘zombified Santa' skin was created by AI, something that was spotted due to an error that led to too many fingers on the model, a tell-tale sign of GenAI being used without careful human oversight.

Recently, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, also spoke about the company's plans to train its own Generative AI model using a catalogue of first-party games, something that could shrink development timelines.

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KitGuru Says: It seems a lot of the bigger publishers are hoping that Generative AI will allow them to reset the table, allowing for games to be made faster, with smaller teams. However, the public at large has been against the use of AI replacing creative humans. That hasn't stopped the industry in the past though. There was plenty of backlash against cosmetic DLCs back in the day, but the industry pushed forward with it anyway and now, it is rare to find a game that doesn't offer some form of paid DLC. The same will happen for AI, there will be some pushback along the way, but eventually, AI will be industry standard, and it will be impossible to find a game that wasn't developed with some kind of AI assistance outside of indies. 

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