Activision has reportedly sold AI-created skins to Call of Duty players

Activision has sold AI-generated skins to Modern Warfare 3 players, according to a report that claims many game devs are being forced to use AI tools to aid in their workflow.

WIRED has published an investigation into how the biggest game developers like Activision Blizzard and Riot Games are integrating the use of generative AI into their game development pipelines.

According to the report, Activision Blizzard started the process of using AI in their games in early 2023, and by July of that year they had secured access to GPT-3.5 and “approved the use of certain generative AI tools in creating concept art and marketing materials”.

By late 2023, Activision had reportedly sold an AI-generated cosmetic through Modern Warfare 3’s in-game store.

Although WIRED did not explicitly convey which cosmetic bundle was created with the help of AI, they provided a link to the Yokai’s Wrath bundle, insinuating this is the design in question.

The Yokai’s Wrath Operator bundle was released in December 2023 as an in-store bundle that players could purchase. It retailed for 1,500 CoD Points, which is roughly equivalent to $15.

It’s unknown which part of the bundle used generative AI in its conception, as it comes with an Operator skin, a weapon Blueprint, a Calling Card, a Weapon sticker, and a loading screen. It’s also unknown if Activision has released any other cosmetics using AI art.

According to WIRED, CoD’s developers were approved to use generative AI programs like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion when producing AI art.

Just over a month after the bundle was released, Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees. According to an Activision employee WIRED spoke to, remaining concept artists were “forced to use AI to aid in their work”.

Riot Games was also implicated in the investigation, reportedly experimenting on an in-house generative AI, however, it supposedly never gained “traction internally”.

Activision Blizzard has yet to comment on the report.