Activision Admits: AI in Call of Duty

Activision, the publisher behind the popular first-person shooter game series Call of Duty, has recently updated the Steam page for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to include a disclosure about the use of AI-generated content in the game's development. This acknowledgment comes in response to a new requirement from Steam, the leading PC gaming platform, which mandates that developers disclose their use of artificial intelligence in game development.

In the updated Steam page, Activision stated, "Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in-game assets." However, the company did not specify which assets were created with AI assistance and did not provide further comment on the matter.

Call of Duty is one of the video game industry's most successful franchises, with annual releases generating massive sales for over two decades. According to industry data, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was the best-selling video game in the United States in 2024, despite its late October release.

Players have long speculated that certain aspects of Black Ops 6 and its 2023 predecessor, Modern Warfare 3, such as loading screens and "calling card" backgrounds, were created with the help of generative AI tools. The update to the Call of Duty 6 Steam page comes amidst ongoing debates within the entertainment industry regarding the role of AI in content creation.

The use of AI in games falls into two categories: "Pre-Generated" content, which is created during development, and "Live-Generated" content, which is produced while the game is running. Both categories must adhere to Steam's rules, with Live-Generated AI requiring disclosed safeguards against illegal content.

Steam's clarification of its AI content policy follows criticism from developers who accused the platform of rejecting games due to copyright concerns about AI-generated content. Rival gaming platform Epic Games has capitalized on this controversy to attract developers to its Epic Game Store, much like it did after Steam banned blockchain games. However, some creators have found workarounds to navigate these challenges.