Remember last year when we were accusing Activision of using AI in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6? Well, the publisher has finally come out and officially admitted it. If you look at the game’s Steam page, there’s a neat little disclaimer now.
But it really should’ve been there from the start because Steam doesn’t even allow it. The company didn’t even admit it in a public statement or announcement, and now we’re just left to wonder what comes next. It’s good that we finally got confirmation but what is the extent of AI’s role in game development and why did the devs wait this long?
Activision finally admits to AI use in Black Ops 6
Valve made it clear back in January 2024 that all games on Steam must disclose the use of AI in development or gameplay. Developers need to specify whether AI is used to create pre-generated content (such as art, sound, or code) or live-generated content (produced in real-time). So when players discovered AI-generated art in the loading screens of Black Ops 6, the question was raised. Why did Activision not disclose this?
Call of duty black ops 6 uses AI for their in game content and umm in the killer content mastercraft bundle the loading screen is literally AI generated Hatsune Miku, which is hilarious to me 😭 pic.twitter.com/WLCy6gSRyn
— Hatsune Miku (@HatsuneMikuFort) February 6, 2025
One of the Christmas themed loading screens added to Black Ops 6 today appears to have been created using AI.
The zombie has 6 fingers.
Lots of people have been suspicious of Call of Duty using AI recently and it appears they were suspicious for good reason. pic.twitter.com/FSe2ARBT6O
— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) December 5, 2024
After months of silence, Activision has finally revealed its use of generative AI in Black Ops 6. We can now find a small disclaimer at the bottom of the game’s Steam page, stating, “Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in-game assets.” Activision has not specified exactly which assets were AI-generated.
While the use of AI in game development isn’t inherently problematic, the lack of clear communication from publishers like Activision is just not cool. Generative AI has been used in a lot of different industries at this point. However, the controversy is in the fact that it uses preexisting data, especially in the case of artwork like loading screens because it often includes artwork from real artists.
What does this mean for the publisher’s future games?
Now that the publisher has admitted it, it undoubtedly sets a precedent for future Call of Duty titles. If Activision continues to use AI for asset generation, will the company be more transparent about its nature, or will it attempt to hide it under the rug again? Then there’s the fact that generative AI is only going to evolve further, so its role in game development may grow to be even more than it is now.
Despite violating Steam’s AI disclosure policies, it remains unclear whether Activision will face any consequences for failing to disclose its AI use at launch. Now we’re just left to wonder if the company is planning to use AI for more of its content. With rumors that the fan-favorite map Verdansk is coming back for Season 3 of Warzone, we can only hope there won’t be an AI twist on it.
For Black Ops 6 in particular though, it’s a massively successful game and was the best-selling game of 2024 in the US (via IGN). With its status as a Day 1 launch on Game Pass, it was also the fastest-selling CoD game. Obviously, it doesn’t owe all of its success to AI but you’d think that companies would be more transparent over such large-scale projects.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
