Activision Sold AI-Generated Call of Duty Cosmetic, Approved AI Use That Led to Layoffs: Report

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Activision reportedly utilised generative artificial intelligence (AI) to create an in-game cosmetic for its latest Call of Duty title and made it available for purchase in late 2023. The Call of Duty maker is said to have approved the use of generative AI tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion to help create concept art for its games early last year. By July, the company had obtained access to OpenAI's GPT-3.5 model and greenlit wider AI use to generate concept art, marketing material and more.

The revelations come as part of a wide-ranging Wired investigation over the growing presence of generative AI in video game development, that has reportedly led to the loss of several jobs in the sector.

According to the report, after approving the use of generative AI in game development last year, Activision told its artists that AI tools would only be used to create internal concepts for its titles and not “final game assets.” By the end of 2023, however, the company reportedly put up an AI-generated cosmetic for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for sale on the game's online store.

While the report does not mention the specifics of AI use that went into creating the cosmetic, it includes a link to the in-game item still available on the Call of Duty store. The AI-generated cosmetic, as per the report, is the Yokai's Wrath bundle, which includes a player skin, a firearm blueprint, a calling card, a sticker and a loading screen image. The items, released in December 2023, cost 1,500 COD points on the store — the in-game virtual currency amounts to about $15 or roughly Rs. 1,255.

The Yokai player skin included in the Yokai's Wrath bundle
Photo Credit: Activision

In addition to assurances about restrained use of generative AI, Activision had also told its artists that AI adoption would not result in the loss of actual human jobs, as per the report. After releasing the AI-generated Call of Duty cosmetic on the store in December, however, Microsoft announced that it was