A six-fingered image of zombie Father Christmas appears to be the last straw for some Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 fans, who claim this is the telltale sign of low-effort generative AI. At the same time, Activision defenders insist it references the sixth entry in the subseries. The authenticity of Santa's horrible teeth and moustache has also been subjected to some close scrutiny.
Duly noted by Eurogamer, zombie Santa isn't the only culprit. A gloved hand holding some Gobblegum (below) has also raised eyebrows, earning Activision the accusation of employing "AI slop" in place of art assets. All of this came to a head on the game's official subreddit over the weekend, and it remains to be seen how or even if the company will respond. Admittedly, it's not a great look for a series that brings in billions of dollars in revenue and still demands a premium price point.
What do you think? Is Activision's alleged use of AI in marketing material worth getting up in arms, or is this something we will increasingly encounter as the industry slowly unravels? Generate a unique response in the comments section below.
[source x.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 50
Who else but Activision?
It's not as if it matters all that much. You'll see posts on websites like this one stating "CoD fans outraged / disappointed / fuming / etc." for any particular reason, followed a few days or week later by "Latest CoD breaks more sales records." There's a reason Activision essentially forced all of its remaining studios into CoD support.
It’s here, there, and everywhere. Let the slop-slinging begin.
Activision rakes in money in the billions every year and can't pay an artist to design some concept art.
Honestly, this doesn't surprise me one bit.
@Steel76
Doctor to concussed AI: “How many fingers am I holding up?”
"This is unacceptable at this point". Then proceeds to buy another COD next year. Business-wise, why would Activision give a damn if people will keep buying COD?
Maybe the guy who did the grand theft auto 4 cover finally got some more work.
Activision has been run by a bunch of cold, heartless robots for years. Now they are trying to do the human work as well.
@s22222 I never got into CoD besides playing with my friends when I ran a game crazy. That was when MW came out. I always liked to shoot demons and monsters more, but we played a hell of a lot of that game, locally. It's morphed into something I don't want any part of, but I admit I do get a little wistful of those days when I see one of my friends playing the newest CoD.
I get it from the standpoint of playing whatever your friends are playing.
This is embarrassing but using slop is also embarrassing lol. I swear the internet is trying to make this word happen. On resetera some users will refer to Triple A games has slop to try to sound sophisticated or above those type of games but instead they just come off as tools. I really hope this quickly passes because it annoys me almost as much as seeing 30 and 40 year olds trying to use young people slang in threads which is just embarrassing
To be fair... er... nah... this is kinda pretty low. It's hard to justify why one of the most profitable companies on Earth (Micro$oft) who owns one of the most profitable game-devs (A₿K) is so cheap, they can't even employ actual artists to come up with their promotional art. This is just crazy.
Pay artists for art.
All the billions they are raking in yet can't afford to get a real person to make some quick art 😂
@BushSwan Seven, but two of them are fused together, and there’s an eighth finger just floating next the others not even attached.
Yet those same addicted marks continue to hand over there money for this garbage.....
The entire scheme is slop, year after year. Yet the flies always flock back to each new steaming pile...
@KundaliniRising333 exactly. idk why there’s even a complaint about this
Is the real issue here that they are using AI generated 'art' that looks terrible - or that said 'art' is doing somebody out of a job?
Because if it's just the former, I really can't understand why anyone would care.
I really don't care about stuff like this. It's a blink and it'll be gone seasonal promo image. Even if it was AI I'd rather the devs and creatives were focusing on the game itself. Though it's not clear if that IS a 6th finger or just the pavement/sidewalk curb.
But Zombies often have 3 arms, or 2 heads, why not 6 fingers?
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare Given that Microsoft is one of multiple company that has the biggest to gain from the use of AI… It not surprising that their subsidiaries would push use of AI over paying an actual artist.
They have the money to pay real artists yet choose to do this. They won’t get my money.
Unfortunately, there are too many people willing to feed off the garbage these mega corps throw at them so it won’t have an impact.
@Gunnerzaurus Were they all laid off due to AI? No. This is nonsense fearmongering with no nuance.
@Gunnerzaurus I think that's a little simplistic... you know that a LOT of digital artists voluntarily use ML-based software. It's easy to say, "no AI"... but a lot of those artists you're referring to now use (willingly) AI based solutions to make their job easier.
The issue is - how does the industry take performance/productivity gains into account, without just laying people off. In that case, there's little reason to improve toolsets, if it means firing artists. So there needs to be a mature debate about it.
I really don't care or see an issue with using AI or these 'disposable' pieces of 'art' not being created by Humans. Its not something that is being sold or generating income - its just some in-game art for a limited time event that will be 'gone' in a few weeks.
AI replacing 'artists', that includes Actors/voice work too, is no different from Computers and Robots replacing many labourers and 'skilled' workers. Its just the evolution of 'tools' made by Humans to be 'more' efficient, more productive and/or reduce their overall costs. AI can produce work in minutes, if not faster yet an Artist may take weeks or months to paint something similar. AI can do voicework without needing to hire a recording studio and hiring someone to read lines written for them into a Mic saving time and money - money better spent on Bug fixing, Server upgrades etc and STILL bringing MORE Events, Content etc to the people that consume that content rapidly.
Half the problem with Live Service is that it needs a consistent and high turnover of Content to keep those that are playing satiated. A lot of these are 'Free' Events every couple of weeks and each needs 'Artwork' - all giving away 'free' content to EVERYONE, not selling the Art or the Content so does it matter if AI created it?
The AI boogeeyman strikes again.
Its just a promo piece that will be used once and never again, AI exists exactly for that, otherwise they would need to spend around 50k just for that piece to be ready.
The sloppy part is to use it like that, would take some minutes in Photoshop to fix that and it would look so much better.
@dark_knightmare2
This comment is totes based.
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare EXACTLY. It is how AI it is used, and by whom, rather than a blanket ban across all AI.
If it is creatives that want to use it as a tool to make their jobs easier then that is sensible. If it is penny pinchers trying to reduce costs that's more questionable. Though even that later position has nuance. The cost of games is going up and is fast heading towards becoming unsustainable. Careful use here should still be considered.
@BAMozzy so the issue is - is AI a tool for artists, or a means to replace the artist? There's a lot of ethical (and legal) issues surrounding AI in terms of what it's being trained on... but avoiding that hornets nest, there's the basic thing of 'who reviewed this AI art?' If the answer is no one, then that's literal slop... if it's generated by an artist using AI-based prompts to quickly generate a base image, and they touch it up to make it professional, then that seems reasonable. I can't imagine any artist looking at the 6-fingered zombie-Santa and thinking, "that seems good enough".
The same argument could be used for just about any art in any game - if you pushed it hard enough. I think no one is saying AI shouldn't be used, just do so responsibly.
CoD players in 2024 (almost 2025) deserve everything they get.
Most companies will probably do a lot more AI generated laziness. Pretty sad.
@Markatron84 thanks for ruining my day 😆
No point getting upset about it it's probs the future n not going away🤣 doesn't affect the game anyway 🙄
@dark_knightmare2 I aim to please.
Yes the fingers look silly, but AI in general seems to be creating a whole new generation of luddites, which is frankly embarrassing.
The weird hatred for it is irrational and really isn't a good look.
As others have said, this'll all be forgotten in a few years and the few who rage against anything AI will look even more odd.
Change is hard for some. I welcome ai. I think it's art is better than most humans art.
@LikelySatan Game Crazy.... damn that brings me back. Had one less than a mile from my house and was there all the time. Me and some of the managers there are still friends on PSN. Wish it was still around it was so much better than Gamestop.
@Vega37 they just lost all identity. We used to have this really edgelordy loyalty program called "ThE AsYLuM!" It was connected to Hollywood Video, who also lost their identity. Sad times. We went from this laser focused rewards program for akshul nerds to them getting on our backs for not selling enough Entertainment Weekly subs to said akshul nerds. It was damned good for a while though.
@Gunnerzaurus Nobody is saying they want artists sacked in droves, but it's not as dire as you are making it sound.
You asked for facts. Here's a study of actual devs and studios. 71% said they already were using AI to improve delivery, 36% are generating artwork and game levels, 37% are using AI to accelerate writing code, 46% to improve character animation. The fact is devs are ALREADY using AI. You can stand on your high horse and say "I don't want any AI in my games" but you can't put the genie back in the bottle, it is being used already by creatives. The question isn't IF it is used, it is HOW to use it responsibly.
To me a xmas promo image like this that will be gone within a few weeks never to be seen again is not something I am remotely concerned about, there are much bigger fish to fry in regulating AI.
@Deadlyblack people be greedy as ***** make the most profit at the cost of everything else including people and quality
@Gunnerzaurus yes - jump onto any dev site or channel... most dev tools now come with in-built AI toolsets. AI tools have been standard with even basic Adobe products for years (they just haven't been trying to market them as visibly). Hell, even basic dev suites for coding come with a crap-tonne of AI code generators for actual code development. This isn't something is necessarily being done to creatives/coders... they are actively using it themselves.
As I said, the issue isn't that this is replacing people, it's that companies are making productivity adjustments to their workforce that is the issue. It's a complicated situation - at the end of the day, if a company can produce X using Y fewer people, then of course they will consider adjusting how many people they need... but I don't know too many developers that would intentionally make their creative process harder just to justify the same number of staff work on the same thing.
I'm not advocating for downsizing, I'm just saying that companies will always seek to reduce their over-heads. The challenge is to show they can add to their revenue by making better use of those Y developers > how to use the staff they have in more creative ways with the newer tools that are coming online.
Edit - also, regarding your conversation with @themightyant ... I think before you start attacking people for having informed decisions and suggesting you have a better understanding, you might want to hold those thoughts. Just in case...
@themightyant well said... it's like asking people to go back to using typewriters to ensure that people don't get too productive. I am sure the majority of devs are over the moon that they reduce some of the time-consuming (thankless) tasks... so I imagine this is really a question for the dev community to ponder how to make the most of it, while still nurturing the industry and making development an enticing career option.
Though I do think personally, there always needs to be editorial control with any AI assisted tools/dev pipeline. The extra fingers could be touched up with any number of AI-assist tools in no-time. AI is best used to reduce burden not replace supervision or quality control.
Frightening how some users here gladly accept getting fed with low-effort and low-quality in their games.
Came here to say it doesnt matter, people will still buy in to this sh*t. Seems im 49 comments too late.
@Gunnerzaurus How do you know this cost a human job? How do you know this was a corporate decision? You asked for facts but are just assuming everything.
Just as likely is the salaried art department are busy with 101 other things and used a tool to save themselves time. If they are contracted there won’t have been extra money or an extra role to make this short lived banner, it would have just been one more thing to do.
The reality is it could be either way, but the only FACT is we don’t know, I’m not going to get worked up over a lot of assumptions.
I’ve tried to engage in good faith, provided statistics and a study of how creatives are choosing to use AI tools to help them with their work, but you just seem to assume all AI use is bad and corporate mandated. As I showed AI is ALREADY being used in over 70% of polled studios to speed up development, and this number will only grow going forward. It’s like saying ‘I don’t want to use computers’ in the 90s. If you refuse to use any game that uses AI in some way then that is your prerogative… but you might as well stop playing games.
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare Totally agree. I work in the creative space, used to run a small design agency before going freelance again. I fully understand the concerns here, but they are nothing new.
In the artistic space we had the same concerns with computers and photoshop and digital tools. And in the wider world electricity, robotics and computerisation. This is just the next in a long line of technological advancements that are changing the status quo. As I said at the top, the questions aren’t IF we use them, it is HOW we use them responsibly.
Change can be scary but denying anything that uses AI will be like denying anything that uses a computer, or electricity.
@themightyant we are wholly and completely on the same page... as I wrote somewhere above, it's like thinking people will return to type-writers in order to protect their jobs... but make their life hell. People need to be flexible, and look for new opportunities to create value. Rather than just shaking fist angrily at the sky.
But that responsibility works both ways - from the workers and the employers. That's why it's a sometimes uncomfortable issue, because people approach things from different perspectives (as they do in all life).
Santa Claus aka Satan's Claws.
In the spirit of Activision, I have used AI to generate my comment below:
While it's interesting to see Activision embracing AI for marketing, it raises some important questions about creativity and authenticity. AI can streamline production, but can it truly capture the spirit and unique storytelling that fans expect from a brand like Call of Duty? It’ll be interesting to see if AI-generated materials resonate with audiences or feel more like a soulless cash grab.
Hahahaha Merry Christmas I guess 😂
@Gunnerzaurus At what point did I defend corporations?
You are making ASSUMPTIONS again. I was talking about artists and creatives using AI as tools to improve their workflows.
It's impossible to have a rational conversation when you are determined to see the worst in everyone's words with no nuance.
Yes we probably will be in a worse position in 10 years time but that's because the whole world is going to *****, a corporate led consumerist, capitalist nightmare. But that isn't some massive gotcha that AI is the precursor to doom.
Look I can understand it is a scary position right now, having worked as a creative artist and a developer I've had many of the same worries and concerns about AI. But i've also been through the same with Photoshop, CAD, Digital Photography etc. with people claiming it is the end of their job, that largely wasn't the case. The main way it is the end is if you don't adapt and keep with the times. Good luck to you.
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...