Activision has sold AI-generated skins toModern Warfare 3players, according to a report that claims many game devs are being forced to use AI tools to aid in their workflow.
WIREDhas published an investigation into how the biggest game developers like Activision Blizzard and Riot Games are integrating the use of generative AI into their game development pipelines.
Although WIRED did not explicitly convey which cosmetic bundle was created with the help of AI, they provided a link to the Yokai’s Wrath bundle, insinuating this is the design in question.
It’s unknown which part of the bundle used generative AI in its conception, as it comes with an Operator skin, a weapon Blueprint, a Calling Card, a Weapon sticker, and a loading screen. It’s also unknown if Activision has released any other cosmetics using AI art.
According to WIRED, CoD’s developers were approved to use generative AI programs like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion when producing AI art.
Just over a month after the bundle was released, Microsoftlaid off1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees. According to an Activision employee WIRED spoke to, remaining concept artists were “forced to use AI to aid in their work”.
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Riot Games was also implicated in the investigation, reportedly experimenting on an in-house generative AI, however, it supposedly never gained “traction internally”.
Activision Blizzard has yet to comment on the report.
Jeremy Gan was a Games Writer on Dexerto’s Australia team. He is a journalism graduate and expertly covers CS:GO, Valorant, Overwatch, League of Legends, and Dota 2, as well as trending stories in Twitch and Kick streaming.
