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As similar reactions poured in over social media, many developers shared that avoiding generative AI was not only a matter of personal pride, but also a matter of professional marketing — one that developers are leveraging to let their players know their games were made by humans.
For Kanaris-Sotiriou, the question of adopting the use of gen AI to make games was an easy one to answer. “The foundations that it’s built upon, the idea of using other people’s work without permission to generate artwork [...] are unfair,” he says.
Lee’s comments are just the latest in a string of notable gaming CEOs declaring that gen AI is the future of the medium. But Kanaris-Sotiriou, along with many of his game development peers, wanted to push back against this assertion. So earlier this year they collaborated on a solution — a simple image file of a golden cog-shaped seal that declares, “This developer assures that no gen AI was used in this indie game.”
Other developers are adopting their own bespoke solutions that act both as an informative statement against gen AI and a philosophical one.
“Absolutely everything in Unbeatable was created by human beings without any generative assistance,” reads a graphic posted by D-Cell Games on Bluesky about its upcoming game Unbeatable. The image was created specifically in response to Lee’s comments. “Every frame drawn, every word written, every model sculpted, every line of code typed, every song sung with a real voice, every guitar played with a real hand, every moment flawed and messy because we are, also.”
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Where other developers have taken a simple declarative approach against gen AI, the passion in D-Cell’s statement is apparent and it reads almost like a challenge to those who use the tools. “Ignoring all of the ethical, moral, and legal concerns of using generative AI, it’s a huge waste of effort,” says Jeffrey Chiao, studio producer at D-Cell Games, in an email to The Verge. “We can produce results that meet our quality standards without its assistance.”
Gen AI enthusiasts see the technology as a way to unlock hidden creative potential, and to many it’s a tool to speed up the time-consuming and costly processes inherent to video game production. Some of the biggest companies are taking advantage of that; EA has announced a partnership with Stability AI, for instance, while Microsoft is using AI to generate gameplay.
Video game development budgets are ballooning and games are taking longer to release. A tool that can help get games to market quicker and cheaper is an attractive proposition — especially in the indie space, where investment has significantly dried up and smaller teams require developers to do multiple jobs. And while generative AI is being used across all levels of the industry (with notable exceptions), the loudest pushback is coming from the space that ostensibly stands to benefit from it the most. “Constraints we face as indies inspire us to develop with really creative solutions,” Kanaris-Sotiriou says.
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