With generative AI such a controversial topic right now, it's no wonder that the hottest game of 2025 has become embroiled in it.
For those who may not know, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was inadvertently released with a small amount of AI-generated artwork still in place.
Developer Sandfall Interactive said it was intended to be a placeholder only, and it was swiftly patched with original art to replace the offending textures.
Fast forward to awards season, and the heavily decorated RPG was stripped of two wins at the Indie Game Awards for the aforementioned usage of generative AI in development.
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Now, in a Q&A session hosted by publisher Kepler Interactive and annotated by YouTuber Sushi, Sandfall has directly commented on the matter.
In light of the criticism Larian Studios recently faced, Expedition 33's director and art director were asked about generative AI and the extent to which it was used in the game.
"Yeah, we're aware of what's been going on with that. But I can say, everything in the game is human-made," said director Guillaume Broche.
"When AI first really came out in 2022, we'd already started on the game," he continued. "It was just a new tool, we tried it, and we didn't like it at all. It felt wrong."
Broche says the team did use it for "placeholder for textures we missed" but that these were "taken out as soon as we saw it" as mentioned earlier.
"But yeah, the concept art, voice actors, everything is human-made."
Speaking about the future, Broche promises Sandfall's games will not contain AI-generated content. "It's pretty hard to predict what the future [of the industry] will look like, but everything will be made by humans from us."
Many games have faced criticism this year for their use of generative AI, and we imagine it's something we'll only be seeing more of while the technology remains relevant. The likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, ARC Raiders, and Battlefield 6 have been lamented for using AI tools to varying degrees.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 17
It sounds like the team at Sandfall are genuine about the matter. AI was all the craze at the beginning, until we learned more about it, and most people started realizing that it is soulless trash.
I feel he shouldn't have to say this, just keep on making master pieces, for the things I loved about the game (voice acting, music, writing) were not affected by AI.
Only small teams are able to be hurt by this kind of allegation. Giants like EA flaunt it as part of the "new normal" but cant be touched. A company like Sandfall that is so inventive and brings us this great masterpiece gets tarnished. Sad.
I disagree with both extreme sides on this. We can't act like it won't be more prevalent in every area of life. What we need to do is how to regulate it, being transparent, to what extent it's acceptable etc.
For example the things in CoD especially are vomit inducing but using it while in production to fasten some processes feels like a no-brainer. Like I said, there is a nuance there and it will be found in a few years hopefully.
As a final note: I can't see myself playing something completely made by AI even though I don't like to talk big.
Dont worry - by the time they release their next game we'll have some other asinine thing to complain about.
@Losermagnet2 By then we'll all be living in vaults and wearing blue jumpsuits...
Generative AI is what AI should be used for. The outcry over this is so dumb and will just lead to increased costs for no reason. It’s like people who hate Speedtree because it’s AI. Yes, because having AI generate tress in games is the end of all gaming. 🙄
People are so ridiculous over this. Over a placeholder poster.
The right thing to do. As ever, there will be people watching their releases under a microscope to verify their claim. All the AI friends on the web should remember that not a single company in existence is your "friend". Whether they produced your favourite consumer good or not.
I will not ever play Clair Obscur because of this. Maybe their next title, but definitely not on day one. Obviously.
I'm playing through the game and you can tell everything was crafted by artists, it's apparent by their style.
What?? They used an AI picture??
Burn the infidals at the stake!!
What a mad overreaction this whole thing has been.
Here I was thinking, "what a great use of AI, as a disstilled mood board for whatever little detail." Wait until people hear about literally every movie being made of this vibe from this movie, this action from this movie, and scene from this movie. Didn't a PNG of Assassin's Creed 4 make it's way in Uncharted 4 at release? Where's the hysteria around that? Plagiarism is sort of worse than lazy creation(or maybe not), that is if you wanna call it that. Sounds like this Expedition stuff didn't even make it in the final game. How are people not talking at the same level about this game not being an indie game more importantly. It wasn't published by Sandfall and no way has the spirit of an indie game. When the time comes, I fully expect CDPR's next game to get the same indie praise.
They shouldn't need to feel apologetic for this matter.
Instead of fighting the tech oligarchs who are peddling this for more power, people are fighting and accusing eachother for the use of this. In the meantime we are feeding ai with all the crap we put on social media.
@AhmadSumadi Exactly why I've been asking where the line would be drawn. Because when you start most games there are tools shown used like Speedtree and others so should the fight have started from there...
I couldn't believe the vitriol around the previous story and the amount of support the people were getting who were calling this incredible game "garbage". People are so radical about this kind of thing it really makes them look foolish to anyone with their wits about them
@PerpetualBoredom what does a company being "your friend" have to do with this and why would anyone ever think that?
Nothing will satisfy the tiny group for whom this is the latest issue to exercise performative outrage on. And it IS a tiny group, it certainly isn't 'most people'.
When you're in a little bubble, it's impossible to see that the real world is outside and couldn't care less.
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