{"id":455519,"date":"2026-02-05T13:23:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T13:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/455519\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T13:23:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T13:23:18","slug":"netease-games-has-not-banned-generative-ai-for-developers-despite-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/455519\/","title":{"rendered":"NetEase Games has not banned Generative AI for developers, despite reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese gaming giant NetEase, the company behind Marvel Rivals, Where Winds Meet, and many more, has not banned the use of generative AI across its large number of projects. <\/p>\n

Generative AI has been a major pain point for the games industry this past year with games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 being lambasted<\/a> for its use of low-quality, machine-generated art.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then, numerous companies have barred the use of AI generated assets in their games. Larian Studios has banned the use of AI for the development of Divinity<\/a> after fan backlash, RuneScape developer Jagex has restricted the technology\u2019s use<\/a>, and even Warhammer company Games Workshop has blocked the use of GenAI to \u201cprotect our human workers\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to Eurogamer, Romero is a Dead Man<\/a> creator Suda51 discussed the use of generative AI in his upcoming game. The developer not only explained that his new title doesn\u2019t use AI but claimed that NetEase Games is pushing back against its use.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as not using any AI for our games, it started as a Netease policy for all their companies,\u201d the developer said<\/a>. \u201cThey originally had a section researching and developing AI-related stuff, but at one point they decided not to do that any more. They folded that section and told their studios to not use AI in games, to not use it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suda51 explained that, at some point, generative AI could get \u201creally cool\u201d, but right now \u201cthere\u2019s something about the images and videos you see that feels off.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Suda51\u2019s statement is, unfortunately, inaccurate. While NetEase may not be forcing developers to use generative AI to cut costs, the studio also isn\u2019t demanding developers stop using the technology. <\/p>\n

In a statement to FRVR, a NetEase representative confirmed \u201cthis story isn\u2019t true \u2013 we even have a GDC talk about AI\u201d, referring to the company\u2019s upcoming talks at the March 2026 event. The spokesperson explained that the ban on AI \u201cisn\u2019t true\u201d.<\/p>\n

Additionally, a number of still-supported live-service titles are actively using generative AI technology in numerous ways. For example, Where Winds Meet, a game published by NetEase Games and developed by Everstone Studios, is actively using forms of Generative AI for numerous elements of the open-world action game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Speaking to us in a recent interview, the team confirmed that they are using AI technology for less obvious purposes. For example, AI facial recognition is used to generate character faces based on user portraits, and the game features numerous AI-powered NPCs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn game development, we\u2019ve always taken an open and collaborative approach, actively following and carefully evaluating the potential of cutting-edge technologies like AI,\u201d the studio responded in a written interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, our team mainly uses AI as a supporting tool in specific areas, for example, in our facial modeling system, which allows multi-level parameter adjustments,\u201d they continued. \u201cPlayers can also use voice input for AI voice tone recognition, generating character appearances in different styles, ages, and ethnicities\u2014making true personalization possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chinese gaming giant NetEase, the company behind Marvel Rivals, Where Winds Meet, and many more, has not banned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,47989,17842,61,143148],"class_list":["post-455519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-marvel-rivals","tag-netease","tag-technology","tag-where-winds-meet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}