The Alters developer 11 Bit Studios has confirmed its use of generative AI in the game’s development process, following fan backlash online. Weeks after the release of The Alters, keen-eyed fans spotted a wall of text in the game that included a clear GenAI prompt and response, causing much speculation about how much the studio used the technology without properly disclosing it to fans.
Over the last year, discourse around the use of generative AI in video games has reached a fever pitch, with the most vocal critics labelling it as being lazy, ineffectual, and a betrayal of fans. As conversations mounted around The Alters, 11 Bit Studios stepped in to clarify its GenAI use, and confirmed it would be removed entirely in a future game update.
Per the studio, the AI text was simply a placeholder while the game was in development, and it always intended to remove it. In addition, the studio has also confirmed generative AI was used in other parts of the game, most notably, to translate some dialogue from licensed movies which were added late in development.
‘AI-generated assets were used strictly as temporary WIPs during the development process and in a very limited manner,’ 11 Bit Studios said in a statement posted on social media. ‘Our team has always prioritised meaningful, handcrafted storytelling as one of the foundations of our game.’
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Explaining the prompted text found in The Alters, the studio claimed one of its graphical designers used it as a placeholder, and due to internal oversight, it was ‘mistakenly’ left in the game. Per 11 Bit Studios, this was only an isolated case, and the asset in question is being updated.
The generative AI movie translations, meanwhile, are a bit more serious. As noted by players running through The Alters in non-English languages, generative AI translations for dialogue are included, complete with prompts, and an obvious lack of human touch.
11 Bit Studios has claimed that due to ‘extreme time constraints’ it chose not to involve its usual translation partners, and had these videos localised using AI, to ‘have them ready on launch.’
‘It was always our intention to involve trusted translation agencies after release as part of our localisation hotfix, to ensure those texts would be handled with the same care and quality as the rest of the game,” the developer said. ‘That process is now underway, and updated translations are being implemented.’
While the AI-generated text only made up 0.3% of the overall text included in the game, it appears the impact it’s had goes well beyond this. Conversations around The Alters have been increasingly negative since the developer’s use of AI was discovered, with many expressing disappointment that AI use was not disclosed upfront, while claiming they would not have supported the game if they knew this to be the case.
While the technology continues to be investigated as a tool for game development and creative works – as 11 Bit Studios notes – it appears players are, by majority, still not willing to support games when this technology is used. After a tough few years for the games industry, which has seen tens of thousands of developers laid off, and many enduring rough conditions, generative AI – which is being eyed to replace human hands – remains a contentious and rejection-inspiring technology.
