Neverness to Everness devs admit using "AI-assisted tools" after deleting slop animation, now "reviewing and reworking the flagged assets"

Accused of using generative AI to fill gaps in Neverness to Everness, developer Hotta Studio released a statement confirming it used AI tools to do pretty much exactly that.

"Neverness to Everness is built on human creativity," the NTE devs begin in a Twitter post. "The characters, stories, and world you experience are the work of artists, writers, and designers. AI-assisted tools were used only on a small number of background and environmental assets, not on the characters or stories that define this game."

From day one, Neverness to Everness has been put under a microscope by players looking for traces of AI-made assets, and they certainly found some. As Hotta Studio says, several smaller bits scattered around the game's open world, seemingly including a poster criticized for closely mirroring famous Japanese animated film Weathering With You, were very clearly made with AI in some capacity.

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Frustration and confusion around the game's use of AI recently came to a boil online following an announcement from IronMouse, a massively popular vtuber and streamer who was previously set to run more sponsored content for Neverness to Everness. She claimed that the game's team lied to her about AI use, so when she learned of the AI slop after the fact, she bailed out. This put more eyes on the game, perhaps prompting or at least hastening today's statement.

In that post, the devs add, "We're already reviewing and reworking the flagged assets: 'Clear Skies in Summer' and 'Pink Paws Heist'."

The AI-generated animation in that heist mission was deleted outright, as one player flagged on Reddit earlier today. Previously, players would see a short sequence bearing telltale AI marks, from a yellow tint to inconsistent movements and art styles. Now, you'll evidently just hear the audio from the animation played over TV static, presumably until the animation is redone entirely.

The noise around Neverness to Everness fits a growing pattern of AI backlash in gaming. Breathless claims that every studio is using AI sit alongside consistent backlash from players at the first whiff of AI-generated content, from Nvidia DLSS 5 to individual assets or even translations.

Even Larian, a critical and community darling after the sterling run of Baldur's Gate 3, faced fierce criticism after suggesting AI would be used in a placeholder-adjacent way for its new RPG Divinity (and ultimately u-turning on that). AI content unintentionally left in GOTY trophy collector Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was also quickly replaced after it was discovered, but only after it cost it an Indie Game Award win.

Some of this player response likely stems from confusion on how AI is being used and a scorched-earth answer just to be safe. But sometimes it's very obvious how it's being used, and many players have proven over and over that they don't want it in their games. Amidst this type of pushback, several studios have scaled back AI plans or replaced AI content. Multiple developers, most recently including Subnautica 2 studio Unknown Worlds, have also gotten ahead of the whole mess by publicly saying they aren't using and/or will never use AI.

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