The weird cat game announced at The Game Awards is not made with AI, developers say, and has 'zero blockchain technology' or NFTs
The developers of Catly, a game about cats, have denied using generative AI to create the announcement trailer that debuted last week at The Game Awards, and have also rejected suggestions that their game is built on blockchain technology or makes use of NFTs.
We missed Catly when it was announced during last week's show, mainly because it came hot on the heels of big reveals of The Witcher 4, Elden Ring: Nightreign, and the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC release date—it was a pretty busy moment. Viewers who weren't madly scrambling to cover the show saw it, though, and the video made quite a splash—for all the wrong reasons. Accusations about the use of generative AI in the creation of the video quickly began flying on Reddit and Steam, driven by the uncanny valley look of the trailer and a general vibe described by one redditor as a «weird AI tinge.»
Some pushed back, saying generative AI isn't capable of producing a video of that quality; others suggested it was some sort of mix of AI-generated characters that were then modeled and animated traditionally. There was no smoking gun, but suspicions were heightened by images on the Steam page, which—for lack of a better descriptor—just have that look:
Catly developer SuperAuthenti says it's not so, though. A PR representative authorized to speak on behalf of Catly told PC Gamer the company did not use generative AI to produce either the video or the game, and that it's surprised by the allegations because «we do not think there are any AI tools that can produce a video like that.»
To reinforce the point, the representative shared a brief video showcasing elements of the trailer in a pre-finalized state, without textures and backgrounds applied. I'm not an animator so I can't swear to its veracity, but it did appear to demonstrate conventional animation techniques being used in the making of the video.
The trailer wasn't the only part of the Catly reveal to raise alarms. The Steam page, which has since been updated but
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