"This is unacceptable at this point": Activision faces backlash over AI-generated images in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Call of Duty's Season 1 Reloaded holiday-themed event, Merry Mayhem, is currently underway, and it appears at least some in-game rewards for players —and even the event banner itself — have been AI-generated. Players have responded with backlash and frustration at Activision, the publisher behind the blockbuster title that has dominated sales charts since its release in October.

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The limited-time Merry Mayhem event in Call of Duty is part of the game's annual CODMas celebrations. However, this year's event takes a page out of the book of Creepmas with plenty of ghouls and zombies spreading holiday cheer fear. As part of the celebratory event, players can earn XP to unlock a variety of rewards like player emblems, calling cards, and loading screens.

One such loading screen featured Zombie Santa, a recurring Warzone character with a distinct look recognizable by many of Call of Duty's regulars. This depiction of Zombie Santa was quite different from the Warzone model, however, bolstering mushy green skin and a surprising number of fingers on one hand. Excessive phalanges are a common indicator of the use of AI generation in an image, as the software struggles to accurately depict human hands accurately.

Players also quickly realized that Zombie Santa wasn't the only in-game image cursed with extra digits, as the preview image for the ongoing GobbleGum event in Zombies mode depicted a hand with far too many fingers to be reasonable. Similarly, the "Holiday Fear" emblem featuring a wreath-adorned zombie reindeer is rife with unusual mistakes that indicate it may have been AI-generated. A weapon decal featuring Zombie Santa and his Zombie reindeer in a sleigh is also curiously affected by the extra fingers error.

Some players have attempted to justify the additional fingers, stating that the six-fingered Zombie is a representation of the game's title, Black Ops 6. Another suggested that it appears to be flesh pulling away from the finger, giving the appearance of two fingers in a place when it's really just one being degloved.

While some players have attempted to justify the use of AI, others have been outright hostile about Activision's embrace of the technology. "This is unacceptable at this point," wrote one Reddit user, ". . . They are feeding us slop because they want to pay their millionaire executives a little bit more. It's ridiculous."

The frustrations over AI aren't just limited to players, either. A Call of Duty leaker on Twitter has shared that the actors responsible for the Zombies cast in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 have pulled out of the project. This is likely due to an ongoing SAG-AFTRA video game voice actor strike that was authorized after negotiations between the union and publishers like Activision and Electronic Arts, which were unable to come to an agreement on protections regarding generative AI.

Developers and publishers have sought to reduce game development costs by laying off human performers and embracing generative AI technologies that have been trained on and are capable of replicating actors' voices without their consent. Treyarch was seemingly left to recast the notable voice actor for SAM in the recently released Citadelle Des Morts map for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's zombies mode.

Of course, solving the voice cast problem could be as simple as Microsoft and Activision agreeing to the demands of the voice actors' union. However, Microsoft has notoriously put its eggs in the pro-AI basket with countless investments in the technology. Microsoft and Activision are unlikely to concede to demands against their own investments, even as communities rail against the use of AI generation in gaming.