Activision Reveals True Intentions for AI

For over a decade, Activision has relentlessly been building its gaming empire upon the shoulders of Call of Duty, which has generated several billion dollars in revenue in the last few years. As such, the title and its developing studios are granted an ever-increasing budget in an industry that keeps getting more and more expensive. In a recent information release by Call of Duty's Creative Head Patrick Kelly, the production cost of Black Ops Cold War was 700 million dollars in 2020.

With such an extensive budget, it may surprise many consumers that Activision is still able to create production problems for itself, not just during development, but in the middle of a title's life cycle.

If you keep up with gaming news or check in even on rare occasions, you most likely have heard about the scandalous implementation of AI in Activision's most recent release, Call of Duty Black Ops 6. The extent of AI in the game is so far limited to limited-time event menus and in-game, earnable rewards: an event menu, a loading screen, and a calling card.

This image on the left is the loading screen awarded to players. Counting the fingers on the hand, you can see a total of six are present. Perhaps not a horrible offense on its own; perhaps when creating a zombie Santa some creative liberties should be taken. Maybe this one can slide, although I will mention what I assume to be presents located above the shoulder also appear off.

Counting fingers again in this image, you reach a whopping seven. Again, this may be another creative effort by an artist at Activision. However, the above-average number of fingers paired with how poorly the contents of the hand seem to blend into their surroundings would have me conclude that the image was generated and then layered with the spheres or Gobblegums, and that is why they stand out so apparently from the hand.

How deep is AI embedded at Activision?

Both of these images alone certainly arouse skepticism, but taken in tandem with reports like that of Wired's "AI is Already Taking Jobs in the Video Game Industry", it is plain that Activision, a company that already harbors an incredible number of scandals and immoralities, has stooped yet again. The article linked above is taken in short reports on a fresh Activision employee being messaged about the forced introduction of AI into game development for Activision, a survey of 3,000 game developers h reported 49% of the respondents have encountered AI at their jobs, and another Activision employee claiming AI is present at Activision.

While AI is far from the ultimate productivity hack that can churn out a AAA title on its own, its efficient nature makes it perfect for implementation in small, one-off projects like the ones shown above.

Implications for Gaming

A practice in corner cutting is a quickly made habit.

The sloppiness, inconsistency, and "Meh, whatever" attitude promise a continued decline in effort over the next several years. If you can't be bothered to cover up a poorly generated AI hand, why not keep going and see how much you can get away with?

This line will be towed to within picometers so long as revenue stays at or above pace with Activision's expectations.

This is not a talent problem nor is it an effort problem. The artists are doing the best they can per their instructions. Their job security is already being dangled above their heads, and now they are expected to coexist with their replacements.

2023 saw over 10,000 layoffs in gaming, followed by another 14,600 in 2024 (per Obsidian Publish). 1,900 of the 14,600 layoffs in 2024 came from Activision Blizzard in January. This accounted for almost 10% of Microsoft's Gaming Division.

While not every game publisher is willing to make a hack out of themselves, the implications of a juggernaut like Activision to half-ass the details is granting permission to smaller companies to do the same. If Call of Duty can get away with it, then anything goes, and game quality will fall off a cliff into a lake of nitroglycerin.