We’ve heard some pretty terrible rumors about Call of Duty, so the future may not be bright for one of the gaming industry’s best-known IPs, but rather the opposite.

Generative artificial intelligence could be a nightmare for the creative industries, even if it cannot (yet!) replace human creativity and work. But an article by Brian Merchant of Wired paints a more negative picture. In addition to the big layoffs, an anonymous artist he calls Noah (afraid to reveal his identity for fear of retribution) has told us what Activision Blizzard (or now we can say Microsoft) is doing in the background.

Yokai’s Wrath is currently available for 1500 COD points. It was created by artificial intelligence. Of course, you can’t buy that many points with your real money, only 2000, which is 20 dollars. This means that you have to pay about $15 for the piece of art created by the AI. The loading screen, which is part of the package, doesn’t even make much reference to the 3D skin beyond the demon mask, and looks strangely realistic and bizarrely lit.

According to Noah, many 2D artists were laid off from Activision last year, and those who stayed were forced to use AI. Mandatory enrollment in AI training is also common, and the publisher has already outsourced many 3D art assets, almost the entire art department. The team can barely meet deadlines, and the internal art team simply cannot keep up. Another veteran developer/artist, who went by the pseudonym Violet, asked why so many expensive concept artists and designs when an art director points the wrong way and pushes everything towards AI, so that the quick results are simply “cleaned up” by a few artists. According to him, we don’t know what part of the game is using AI, but we do know that it’s lurking in the background.

Source: PCGamer, Wired, Cod MW Store