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As a massive fan of Stellar Blade I take no pleasure in writing this, but it does appear that the reveal trailer for new game Blood Rain and its associated key art is riddled with generative AI.
Fans have pointed to various examples, from the look of protagonist Evie through to some nonsensical architecture in the key art, but Chinese players have perhaps spotted the biggest telltale sign.
We know parts of the game will be set in Chongqing after dev Shift Up travelled to the city to take reference photos, but various signage shown in the game world includes characters that don’t even exist.
Now it’s worth noting that the title is in very early development, and all of this could be fixed or replaced by the time the title releases, presumably in a few years.
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But it’s also worth remembering that boss Hyung Tae-Kim – an extremely talented artist, which makes this all the more disheartening – has talked up the advantages of AI fairly recently.
Speaking about Korea’s staffing disadvantages compared to China, he said that AI can empower “one person [to] perform the work of 100 people”. (On this particular quote, I don’t really see how it solves the problem if China has access to AI as well, but I digress.)
I’m going to choose to go lightly on Shift Up here, because I am a fan and I don’t expect this game to launch for many years yet. I know Korea has a slightly different outlook on AI in general to the west, but I’d rather Stellar Blade steered away from the technology.
Not everyone agrees, but AI – specifically generative AI – is divisive because it’s trained on the endeavour of humans without explicit permission. It also raises environmental concerns, given how much power is required to use it.
To my knowledge, there was no generative AI in the original game, and that’s one of my favourite titles on the PS5. So the studio’s more than capable of creating great experiences without the use of the controversial tech.