(Photo : Activision / Screenshot taken from Steam)
Activision has sparked backlash across the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 community over the widespread usage of AI-generated images within the game.
Some people have noticed that the ongoing Season 1 Reloaded holiday-themed event, Merry Mayhem, has some AI-generated images. What makes this even more controversial is that even the event banner was also not human-made.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Backlash
The latest holiday event is part of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's annual CODMas celebrations. This year's event features ghouls and zombies in order to spread holiday fear. Players are able to earn experience to unlock a variety of rewards, including emblems, calling cards, and loading screens.
One of the latter is centered around a Zombie Santa, which is a recurring character that sports a unique look and is recognizable to fans of the franchise. But the latest image for the character was immediately found to have been generated by AI.
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This was primarily due to how its right hand, which is shoved forward, has six fingers, which is a common error that AI makes when generating hands. A lot of players also realized that Zombie Santa was not the only in-game image made using AI, according to Windows Central.
It was discovered that the preview image for the currently ongoing GoggleGum event in Zombies mode also depicts a hand with too many fingers. Another is the Holiday Fear emblem that features a wreath-adorned zombie reindeer that has many indications of being generated by AI.
AI-Generated Images
Another prime example is a weapon decal that features Zombie Santa and his Zombie reindeer in a sleigh due to having extra fingers. There were some players who tried to justify the additional fingers, saying that the six-fingered zombie was a representation of the game's title, which had the number six in it.
Activision has not yet officially confirmed nor denied the allegations of using AI-generated images in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. One user noted that more than half of the game's 2D art are AI checked, Yahoo said.
They argued that this was a disappointing turn of events, especially because the Call of Duty creator recast nearly the entire Zombies crew. This was done to try and replicate their voices to save on payroll funds.
Many players are firm believers that these images were generated by AI, even without Activision acknowledging the issue. This is also not the first time that the studio has used the technology to create something as it previously released a store bundle in 2023 that was supposedly made by AI, according to Cyber News.
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