Activision's AI-Powered Game Plans Revealed

Activision surprised gamers with advertisements for new projects based on its popular franchises: Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, and Call of Duty. However, the ads themselves—created using neural networks—became the main talking point.

Image: apple.com

The first ad, promoting Guitar Hero Mobile on Activision's social media and linking to an App Store pre-order page, featured unsettling, unnatural imagery, sparking immediate online discussion. Similar AI-generated art soon surfaced in ads for Crash Bandicoot Brawl and Call of Duty Mobile. While initial speculation pointed to hacked accounts, Activision later revealed this was a deliberate marketing experiment.

Image: apple.com

The gaming community's response was largely negative. Players criticized Activision's choice of generative AI over professional artists and designers, fearing a decline in quality, dubbing potential outcomes "AI garbage," and drawing comparisons to Electronic Arts' controversial practices.

image: apple.com

Activision's use of AI in development and marketing is increasingly controversial. The company has confirmed neural network use in creating content for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Following the backlash, some promotional posts were removed. Whether these games will actually launch, or if this was solely a provocative audience-testing exercise, remains unclear.