Overwatch 2 developer Blizzard has responded to accusations that new sprays for the aggressive hero shooter have been created with AI, firmly denying such claims.
Followers of the sport took to platforms akin to X and (*2*), stating what they perceived as telltale indicators that the sprays depicting cartoony variations of Enterprise, Juno, and the sport’s new Hero Wuyang have been AI-generated.
One user on X cited the “hair and line artwork” in a twig displaying Enterprise and Juno posing back-to-back, and another user claimed that there have been “bizarre errors and unusual particulars that’d be odd for an trade artist to make,” akin to one among Juno’s eyebrows being over her hair whereas the opposite being underneath.
In a press release to Kotaku, a Blizzard spokesperson stated: “The sprays referenced are artist-made.”
That is removed from the primary AI accusation that Blizzard has acquired referring to Overwatch 2. In August, a publish from the official Overwatch X account selling the model’s collaboration with figurine and plush firm Youtooz contained what observers believed to be AI artwork within the background.
The publish was subsequently deleted, with a reply from the Overwatch account clarifying that the artwork got here from Blizzard’s “e-commerce vendor,” including that the corporate “count on[s] pictures akin to this to be artist-made, in alignment with our coverage.”
In April, gamers accused Blizzard of together with AI-generated voice traces within the German localization of the sport for Mercy in a Gundam crossover occasion. A public relations supervisor for Blizzard responded in the Blizzard forums, denying the accusation and saying that “sure localized voice traces in some latest Blizzard recreation content material are presently unavailable or modified.”
The usage of AI in recreation improvement nonetheless stays a contentious subject, with followers usually backlashing at any attainable case of AI-generated content material, whereas AAA firms akin to Sony proceed to experiment with AI instruments akin to massive language fashions (LLMs). Again in 2023, stories indicated that Blizzard itself created an AI instrument referred to as Blizzard Diffusion to generate idea artwork.