{"id":150677,"date":"2025-11-24T18:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/150677\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:33:08","slug":"indie-game-developers-have-a-new-sales-pitch-being-ai-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/150677\/","title":{"rendered":"Indie game developers have a new sales pitch: being \u2018AI free\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, Junghun Lee \u2014 CEO of Nexon, the parent company behind current live-service shooter du jour Arc Raiders \u2014 made waves in the game development community with a straightforward statement<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s important to assume that every game company is now using AI,\u201d he explained. Indie developers were quick to loudly and vociferously call bullshit<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s just not true,\u201d Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou, cofounder of R\u00f6ki and Mythwrecked developer Polygon Treehouse<\/a>, tells The Verge.<\/p>\n

As similar reactions poured in over social media, many developers shared that avoiding generative AI was not only a matter of personal pride, but also a matter of professional marketing \u2014 one that developers are leveraging to let their players know their games were made by humans.<\/p>\n

For Kanaris-Sotiriou, the question of adopting the use of gen AI to make games was an easy one to answer. \u201cThe foundations that it\u2019s built upon, the idea of using other people\u2019s work without permission to generate artwork […] are unfair,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s comments are just the latest in a string of notable gaming CEOs<\/a> declaring that gen AI is the future of the medium<\/a>. But Kanaris-Sotiriou, along with many of his game development peers, wanted to push back against this assertion. So earlier this year they collaborated on a solution \u2014 a simple image file of a golden cog-shaped seal<\/a> that declares, \u201cThis developer assures that no gen AI was used in this indie game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

They made the image (which Kanaris-Sotiriou tweaked<\/a> to ensure it didn\u2019t too closely resemble a more famous seal of approval<\/a>) freely available for any studio to use in their marketing materials, websites, or game pages. While Kanaris-Sotiriou doesn\u2019t have hard numbers on its use, the seal shows up on the store pages for Rosewater<\/a>, Astral Ascent, Quarterstaff, and more. In the Bluesky thread announcing the seal\u2019s creation<\/a>, multiple indie developers shared that they put it on their Itch.io pages and on Steam, where it serves as the antithesis to the platform\u2019s gen AI disclosure rules.<\/a><\/p>\n

Other developers are adopting their own bespoke solutions that act both as an informative statement against gen AI and a philosophical one.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely everything in Unbeatable was created by human beings without any generative assistance,\u201d reads a graphic posted by D-Cell Games<\/a> on Bluesky about its upcoming game Unbeatable<\/a>. The image was created specifically in response to Lee\u2019s comments. \u201cEvery frame drawn, every word written, every model sculpted, every line of code typed, every song sung with a real voice, every guitar played with a real hand, every moment flawed and messy because we are, also.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where other developers have taken a simple declarative approach against gen AI, the passion in D-Cell\u2019s statement is apparent and it reads almost like a challenge to those who use the tools. \u201cIgnoring all of the ethical, moral, and legal concerns of using generative AI, it\u2019s a huge waste of effort,\u201d says Jeffrey Chiao, studio producer at D-Cell Games, in an email to The Verge. \u201cWe can produce results that meet our quality standards without its assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gen AI enthusiasts see the technology as a way to unlock hidden creative potential, and to many it\u2019s a tool to speed up the time-consuming and costly processes<\/a> inherent to video game production. Some of the biggest companies are taking advantage of that; EA has announced a partnership with Stability AI<\/a>, for instance, while Microsoft is using AI to generate gameplay<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ubisoft in particular has had a lot to say about gen AI, with CEO Yves Guillemot calling it<\/a> \u201cas big [of] a revolution for our industry as the shift to 3D\u201d in a recent earnings call. Players can converse with Ubisoft\u2019s gen AI-powered Neo NPCs<\/a> while the company\u2019s Ghostwriter tool generates short snippets of dialogue called barks<\/a>. Subnautica 2 and PUBG publisher Krafton suggested its employees voluntarily resign<\/a> if they can\u2019t abide by the company\u2019s new \u201cAI-first\u201d reorganization<\/a>. Meanwhile, gen AI assets are showing up in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6<\/a> (and again in Black Ops 7<\/a>), Anno 117: Pax Romana<\/a>, The Alters<\/a>, The Finals<\/a>, Arc Raiders<\/a>, InZoi,<\/a> and more.<\/p>\n

Video game development budgets are ballooning<\/a> and games are taking longer to release<\/a>. A tool that can help get games to market quicker and cheaper is an attractive proposition \u2014 especially in the indie space, where investment has significantly dried up<\/a> and smaller teams require developers to do multiple jobs. And while generative AI is being used across all levels of the industry (with notable exceptions<\/a>), the loudest pushback is coming from the space that ostensibly stands to benefit from it the most. \u201cConstraints we face as indies inspire us to develop with really creative solutions,\u201d Kanaris-Sotiriou says.<\/p>\n

\u201cConstraints we face as indies inspire us to develop with really creative solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Eastman, president of Battle Suit Aces<\/a> developer Trinket Studios, echoes that sentiment. He says that the problems gen AI purportedly solves<\/a> are the very things that make game development so rewarding. He spoke about how, in the final days of working on the studio\u2019s previous title, Battle Chef Brigade<\/a>, several key locations in the game didn\u2019t have finished art. Rather than go through the process of creating the hand-drawn line art that dominates the game\u2019s aesthetic, the team decided to use less time-consuming watercolors instead. \u201cThose are the interesting creative decisions that are fun to work through, instead of \u2018please magic box solve my problems.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The developers I spoke to acknowledged that as gen AI technology improves, there will be more pressure to use it. And while it\u2019s difficult to pin down with hard numbers, they also see how their official anti-gen-AI declarations have resonated with their players and communities. \u201cIt\u2019s almost definitely going to be all around us at this current rate, but I think the things people want in our works aren\u2019t going to change because of it,\u201d says Chiao. \u201cSo we\u2019ll hold on our own and continue doing things our way \u2014 it\u2019s more fun that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

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