Activision Explores AI in Future Game Development

Activision surprised gamers with advertisements for new projects based on its popular franchises: Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, and Call of Duty. However, the ads themselves—created using neural networks—became the main talking point.

Image: apple.com

The first ad, promoting Guitar Hero Mobile on Activision's social media and linking to an App Store pre-order page, featured unsettling, unnatural imagery. This sparked immediate online discussion, quickly followed by reports of similar AI-generated art in ads for Crash Bandicoot Brawl and Call of Duty Mobile. While initial speculation pointed to a hack, Activision later revealed this was a deliberate marketing experiment.

Image: apple.com

The gaming community's response was largely negative. Players criticized Activision for using generative AI instead of commissioning professional artists and designers, fearing this approach could lead to a decline in game quality, even drawing comparisons to Electronic Arts' controversial practices.

image: apple.com

The use of AI in Activision's development and marketing is increasingly controversial. The company has already confirmed AI's role in creating content for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Following the backlash, some promotional posts were removed. Whether these games will actually launch, or if this was merely a provocative audience test, remains uncertain.