With the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, eager fans have criticised Activision for its in-game calling cards seemingly created using generative AI.
The calling cards in question belong to the ‘Jack of All Trades’ campaign challenges, as well as two specific calling cards in the ‘Embrace the Nightmare’ campaign endgame challenges. These cards appear, in the eyes of members of the Call of Duty community, similar to AI Studio Ghibli recreations which have been circulating online for the past few months.
Activision has declared AI was used during the development of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 on the game’s Steam page. The mandatory disclaimer notes: “Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets.” While the disclaimer does not specify which assets have been made using AI, players are speculating these calling cards are a clear example.
These calling cards have circulated online, both on social media as well as the game’s Reddit page. The reaction is mixed, with some enraged at the apparent use of AI in a full price video game. Take user Commercial_Pirate501, who wrote: “It cost 96 dollars in my country and more than 130 dollars for vault edition lol. I personally enjoy this game, but this is [a] ridiculous amount of money for a game with tons of AI generated content.”
Another user on Reddit, Loqh9 summerised their thoughts more succinctly, writing: “Damn that’s awful fuck this”.
Alternatively, others are uncaring of possible AI use. For example you have M3Festof1l on X, who commented: “This looks normal. I don’t give a shit who or what created the image as long as it looks normal.” These are of course just a few opinions in what is a wider debate both on AI use in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and game development as a whole.
Eurogamer has reached out to Activision to determine whether these calling cards and others were created using generative AI.
Earlier this year, CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella stated “Microsoft is Thriving” after the company laid off 9,000 employees in a double-down on AI. Microsoft formerly acquired Activision Blizzard in late 2023.