AI will be in "every single videogame" and your fridge, says former Blizzard president

Another day, another out-of-touch executive weighing in on subjects they know little about. Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra is never one to keep his thoughts to himself, and he’s taken to social media to criticize Korean RPG, Crimson Desert. He’s not taken umbrage with the dull quest design or struggling performance; instead Ybarra has strong thoughts about the game’s use of generative AI. Unfortunately for him, his take that the developers at Pearl Abyss should “man up” and stop apologizing for using the technology is the exact opposite of how the general public feels.

Despite selling over two million copies already, Crimson Desert had a rocky launch, with PCGamesN’s own Paul Kelly calling it a “beautiful, shallow world” in his review. Players were caught between Pearl Abyss’ lofty ambitions and the numerous problems with gameplay, controls, and design choices. Then they noticed the AI.

Pearl Abyss has apologized for the AI-generated paintings in the game, saying that they were placeholder assets that will be removed in due course. Using AI for placeholders seems like a bad idea in the first place, seeing as it’s a destructive technology that can easily be missed when finalizing the game.

Pearl Abyss also updated Crimson Desert’s Steam page to include an AI-generated content disclosure which, according to the Wayback Machine, wasn’t present at launch just days earlier. The disclosure reads: “Generative AI technology is used in a supplementary capacity during the creation of some 2D prop assets. Any such assets are replaced through our production pipeline by our art and development teams, ensuring they meet our quality standards and creative direction.”

But Ybarra believes that players should get used to AI as it’s here to stay. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. “Why apologize?” Ybarra, now the CEO of a gambling website, wrote on X. “AI, in one form or another, will be in every single video game. I don’t get why devs feel the need to bend over for the few folks who can’t accept the reality that AI will be in every single thing – from video games to your fridge (it already is). Man up.”

Ybarra’s point is that the divisive technology is inevitable. It’s a tired point that has been trotted out by those who are financially invested in its success for years now, but the tide of public opinion is changing.

After the catastrophic NFT failure and Meta recently shutting down the metaverse – a supposedly revolutionary technology that Mark Zuckerberg spent $80 billion on and renamed his company after – regular folks are starting to see that AI could just be another digital fad.

In fact, the first reply to Ybarra’s post says “I’m so glad you’re not ruining Blizzard anymore,” to which the former president says “Hope you enjoy Copilot in WoW.” It’s worth noting, however, that Microsoft is currently scaling back Copilot integration due to overwhelming negative feedback from Windows users.

As players celebrate Pearl Abyss’ removal of AI art from Crimson Desert, there will always be loud voices complaining. Hopefully the voice of the many prevails, and Pearl Abyss learns its lesson for its next game.