Gaming: 'we Will F*ck Up': The Publisher Of Against The Storm And Manor...

It's everywhere and unavoidable; it's probably going to slip in.

Generative AI, spurred on by super-spreader CEOs, has been smeared everywhere—into our games, our music, our art, even our damn emails. And it's not enough that it's terrible at even the most simple tasks assigned to it, like providing basic, easily accessible information; now we've also got to deal with its massive environmental toll, the upheaval of the education system, disinformation, plagiarism and whole new levels of creative bankruptcy.

It's become overwhelming. Which is why it's reassuring when a publisher takes a hard stance against it, like Manor Lords and Against the Storm publisher Hooded Horse. CEO Tim Bender is "committed" to keeping gen AI out of the publisher's games, he says. When Hooded Horse signs devs, it's right there in the contract.

"It's one of those things that we have a union of being aligned with our developers and with players," says Bender. "Players don't, by and large, want gen AI."

This isn't just a ban on gen AI art in the finished game, but in the earlier stages too. Even studios that wouldn't want to release a game with AI-generated assets will still sometimes use it for placeholders and concept art. As was the case with Sandfall's Clair Obscur—where it used AI-generated placeholder textures that remained until just after launch.

"They never intended that placeholder asset to remain in the game," Bender says. "But this is why we advise developers: don't put placeholder assets into builds. Don't even use gen AI for that. It's such a risk, because things happen, right?"

And he's not concerned about developers not sticking to the ban. People have asked how he would enforce the policy, but beyond the fact that it's written in the contract—which he says isn't even the most important safeguard—developers aren't exactly clamouring to use gen AI in their games. "The importance is the alignment," he says. "There is no enforcement against developers, because the developers are aligned."

As reassuring as this is, though, the overwhelming and unavoidable nature of AI means that there's a limit to how much Hooded Horse can guard against it. And Bender is all too aware of this.

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"Developers, who don't want gen AI art, [they might] contract with some freelance artist or some art outsourcing firm, and they'll be very clear. And you can still get something back, like so

Source: PC Gamer