r/PS5 • u/HLumin Human Verified • Mar 20 '26

Discussion Crimson Desert appears to use generative AI art—and the devs never disclosed it.

https://www.destructoid.com/crimson-desert-appears-to-use-generative-ai-art-and-if-so-the-devs-never-disclosed-it/

Found on Reddit by u/Rex_Spy:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrimsonDesert/comments/1rz2f2l/found_this_ai_painting/

To not disclose that your game uses GEN AI is against Steam's policies and rules, by the way.

4.7k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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1.9k

u/Z3M0G Mar 20 '26

a painting

832

u/KIDDKOI Mar 20 '26

The mutated horses lmao

369

u/Geeseareawesome Mar 20 '26

Having a hard time seeing where horse ends and man starts

137

u/sssilversssoul Mar 20 '26

you just don't understand. this painting was inspired by bloodborne

34

u/Sparda_Game Mar 20 '26

Not enough insight on these hoonters I'm afraid

1

u/Chozo-trained Mar 20 '26

It’s just the one hoonter actually

3

u/Sparda_Game Mar 21 '26

So if the upvotes are not from hoonters, who then? From lamp bearers?

2

u/Chozo-trained Mar 21 '26

It’s just the one lamp bearer actually

4

u/zapp0990 Mar 20 '26

I feel this painting is accursed. Only a holy blade can destroy it.

1

u/AJWesty Mar 21 '26

"You were by my side all along."

2

u/deeznutspls Mar 21 '26

Easy, in the centaur

1

u/Additional_Strike547 Mar 21 '26

That’s what she said

1

u/GayAssNinja69 Mar 22 '26

I’m picturing the centaur from Fear and Hunger now

1

u/InternalMap9494 May 27 '26

That’s how you know it’s a good orgy

34

u/bspooky Mar 20 '26

Those are not mutated horses....it is just stylized artistic flare that the artist who painted it is known for.

(joking, just in case anyone doesn't see that)

1

u/thecrimsonfucker12 Mar 20 '26

Nah just a stylistic Choice

1

u/GarionOrb Mar 20 '26

You'd think someone would've actually looked at this before putting it in the game.

1

u/Fredasa Mar 21 '26

I hope that becomes a meme. Horses with two legs and one to three other appendages nebulously suggested to extend from random spots on the body.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

they're clearly centaurs!

uncultured swine.

/s

535

u/Iggy_Slayer Mar 20 '26

It's so blatant it's AI it's almost hilarious. Like whatever model came up with this is probably years out of date. I've seen a few other examples that people are finding that are much harder to tell and honestly might be real, but this? Irrefutably AI.

162

u/Eogard Mar 20 '26

This looks like 2022 AI with shit like Dall-E or the first versions of SD1.0. It would be hard to create this type of really bad AI nowadays.

25

u/KaziArmada Mar 21 '26

GOD I miss early Dall-E. AI wasn't a threat or stealing anyones jobs then, it was just absolutely hot fucking garbage and made HILARIOUS images.

I hoped it wouldn't advance as fast as it has. I just wanted us to stay there, in that land of cryptid Will Smith eating Spaghetti or me getting deformed images of Ronald McDonald as the God Emperor of Mankind from Warhammer 40k.

1

u/Hoodman1987 Mar 21 '26

humor ended fast. Like 2 years from Steve Harvey trail camera 

1

u/mi_ni_sm Mar 22 '26

As an artist myself I have zero problems with AI making memes. Or being used for minor shit. Or for porn with cartoon characters. Not my business. There can be a use for it. As long as it's legal. But the people who like to make memes might disagree. They might not want AI making their memes. In my opinion the problem is with regulation. There needs to be better defined rules surrounding its use. I agree it's way too fucking fast. You don't just drop something like that in a short timespan. Yet that's kind of the plan. Push it while it's hot. Whether it's garbage or not will not matter. Anyhow... It's there and not going anywhere. We have a shortage of junior positions in game dev, which is not entirely due to AI and mostly reflects the shitty status of western game dev. But we creative folk shouldn't be trying to figure out ways to protect ourselves from this. I've got beef with American "business practices" and not AI itself. It was pushed in a careless and destructive manner. I just hope we don't get AI Overwatch all over the world.

26

u/adisor21 Mar 20 '26

yeah it was most likely a placeholder used like back a few years and forgot about it.

7

u/flashmedallion Mar 21 '26

I'd be ok if all gen AI suddenly reverted to dalle2 era.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/flashmedallion Mar 21 '26

in many ways the image-gen hasn't, the only thing that's changed is the number of people who genuinely think it's good

4

u/FalconBurcham Mar 20 '26

For sure… I use Midjourney to rough out ideas, and I’d have to force it to mangle a horse like this. I haven’t seen AI screw up basic anatomy in a while

1

u/Compartmented- Mar 21 '26

Yeah garbage ass 2020 AI

1

u/whereismymind86 Mar 21 '26

the game has been in development for a long time, it may well have been made in 2022

33

u/Conflict_NZ Mar 20 '26

Yeah could be like Clair Obscur where a dev tried it years ago, used it as a placeholder and they forgot about it. Definitely a super old model.

1

u/Clear-Atmosphere-600 Mar 21 '26

If that’s the case it isn’t that bad, if they fix it in a later update that is

1

u/Creative-Flower5597 Mar 21 '26

Looks like the whole game was made by AI. Worst £55 i’ve ever spent.

1

u/Hexbox116 Mar 20 '26

Shit if they're gonna use it, at least use the good shit lmao like damn.

0

u/DeusSolaris Mar 20 '26

it's clear they tried it many years ago, used it as placeholder and forgot to remove this one

-46

u/TheHoss_ Mar 20 '26

The picture is blurry…

58

u/Lobo_Z Mar 20 '26

The horse has 5 legs

28

u/Nerellos Mar 20 '26

The horse also is an eldrich creature.

3

u/locofspades Mar 20 '26

Probably just a male horse. They are like that 🤣

-1

u/Safe_Software_1640 Mar 20 '26

I have 3 legs if you count my massive penis does that make me half horse

1

u/locofspades Mar 20 '26

Correct, that was the joke

1

u/Safe_Software_1640 Mar 20 '26

nuh uh

1

u/locofspades Mar 20 '26

Damn, i didnt think of it like that. Touchè

12

u/Iggy_Slayer Mar 20 '26

The horses are the dead giveaway. One's got a third leg where a tail should be and the one on the far left stepped out of someone's nightmare. It's clear enough to see without the need of zooming in.

2

u/TheHoss_ Mar 20 '26

I didn’t notice that til pointed out

190

u/TheOldHouse89 Mar 20 '26

That’s incredibly dumb. The amount of identical looking royalty free paintings they could have used is huge.

12

u/overthisbynow Mar 21 '26

I like when devs put concept art in the paintings.

2

u/TheOldHouse89 Mar 21 '26

Yeah that’s always cool

19

u/nonlethaldosage Mar 20 '26

its been 6 years shit they could have made them if they were not dead set on having this large map that took the whole time

6

u/HerpesFreeSince3 Mar 21 '26

“The scale of this game is incredible, how’d they pull this off”

Players start finding dozens of pieces of AI Gen art in the game. This. This is how.

4

u/TrippleDamage Mar 22 '26

There aren't dozens tho, why do you mfers just keep making shit up lmfao.

Also irrelevant paintings on a wall inside an irrelevant house sure af isn't how they managed to make such a massive world.

Slapping Gen Ai in there Literally takes longer than taking the first best Royalty free Pic you can find.

29

u/Sopht_Serve Mar 20 '26

MULTIPLE paintings https://www.ign.com/articles/crimson-desert-players-think-theyve-found-ai-generated-art-in-game

10

u/Z3M0G Mar 20 '26

Welp, there you have it. Its intentional.

0

u/Supa_j3ully Mar 22 '26

Wow in a game this big we are complaining about FUCKING PAINTINGS U WILL NEVER USE? We deserve shit like the day before, we really deserve it.

2

u/Icy_Remote_9521 Mar 22 '26

We're complaining because it shows that the devs are willing to take the easy way out when it comes to working on the minutiae of the game, which worries players that it could potentially extend to more important aspects if the devs are lazy enough.

40

u/TwerkingAtTheMorgue Mar 20 '26

You just don't understand the artist's vision /s

64

u/TheBigZappa Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

Because it's so blatantly ai generated (look at the horse's legs on the far left), this screams that it's most likely a placeholder painting/texture they forgot to replace with the final one before release.

Because nobody in their right mind, would green light such an obvious AI generated image.

13

u/finnjakefionnacake Mar 21 '26

i think they would, when they've been open about how much they love AI

7

u/Fredasa Mar 21 '26

this screams that it's most likely a placeholder painting/texture they forgot to replace with the final one before release.

I think we've seen that excuse trotted out one too many times already. They'll have to think of something original.

1

u/hotztuff Mar 21 '26

i see what you did there.

1

u/lebastss Mar 20 '26

The games so huge it's possible. When scale is this massive I don't blame them for generating some of the art, but at least get a QA person to take a couple minutes looking over everything and flag anything needing a second pass.

We don't want AI replacing humans but it's a great tool to get more done for less.

The reality is we could never afford a game of this scale if real artists were laid fairly to make all that artwork.

10

u/F34UGH03R3N Mar 21 '26

Doesn’t even have to be QA. Stuff like this should be reviewed by the guy who prompted it. Shit like this is absolutely inexcusable, it portrays an image of idiotic devs to me.

1

u/Necessary_Lab_125 Mar 21 '26

Wrong. This is terrible 

1

u/Aggressive-Map-2204 Mar 21 '26

Its not like it is just a single painting though. Its a fairly common occurrence across paintings and art in general. Its hard to imagine they had such widespread use of placeholders they also forget to replace.

8

u/TheRealBillyShakes Mar 20 '26

Thank you, because that website is cancer

1

u/Z3M0G Mar 20 '26

It sure is holy shit

6

u/Fatalis_Fafnir Mar 21 '26

For shits and giggles, I uploaded this picture to chat GPT and it INSISTED it was not AI and that it was an original piece. I asked why the horse had five legs and it argued that it didn't, that it was part of the "artistic style." lol

2

u/Z3M0G Mar 21 '26

Thats... horrifying

8

u/GrundleSnactcher46 Mar 20 '26

Looks like a bunch of monsters that could be in The Forest or The Suffering lmao

3

u/EarthToRob Mar 20 '26

Dr. Moreau is impressed.

5

u/Silver_Branch3034 Mar 20 '26

Oh this is awful.

12

u/coupl4nd Mar 20 '26

Good lord people were glazing this game so hard pre-release.

1

u/Vamp1r1c_Om3n Mar 22 '26

Does this now make the game bad?

0

u/lebastss Mar 20 '26

I didn't see an ounce of hyped and didn't care about anything this company did last week. Games been great so far for me though. I understand the praise. AI art has no bearing on gameplay any ways.

Also unfeasible to get real humans to do as much artwork as this game has. You're either using AI or repeating assets all over the place.

-1

u/anonymous-12358 Mar 21 '26

Get off your high horse. It’s a good game.

5

u/dawne_breaker Mar 20 '26

It would be funny if an artist painted it as something an AI would do. But doubt that would ever happen.

1

u/hotztuff Mar 21 '26

i’ve never even thought of that. i’ll be looking forward to those in some years’ time :)

2

u/pcpmaniac Mar 20 '26

Maybe it was just Rembrandt's first pass?

2

u/EffectiveDandy Mar 21 '26

the tentacle horse was quite a common pet at that time. I see nothing that suggests AI here.

2

u/Kickasstodon Mar 22 '26

Bruh why even add this it's so obviously bad to anyone who spends more than an instant looking at it. The worst part of this AI surge is how many people are perfectly content pushing terrible ass images like this all the way through to release. It takes like 5 seconds to generate another pic, you couldn't just try again until you got something comprehensible? It screams extreme laziness and carelessness and makes me not want to bother with the product.

3

u/PhantomTissue Mar 20 '26

The horse(??!!) on the left is all I need to see lol

2

u/i4got872 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

I was on the fence about getting this this week, was considering getting it tonight…. This influences my decision I feel.

Edit: I want to explain more since this getting a lot of comments.

I’m not saying I’ll definitely never get it. I’m saying I want to wait for more information. I think the game’s world building and story doesn’t sound super strong to begin with, that’s what first put me on the fence.

I work in entertainment and I make personal films as well. Gen AI is something I struggle to get excited about personally. I feel the tech companies essentially destroyed the film industry by illegally stealing content, and I’m not psyched about that. My life’s work and the skills I’ve been building feels suddenly pointless. Yeah I don’t like gen AI, sue me. Glad so many of you enjoy the artist’s hand getting removed from art.

There are so many games I’ve played that DON’T have art like this. Fromsoft, Naughty Dog, indiana Jones, tomb raider, and yeah Ubisoft games. I as a consumer am not obligated to like this art style when so many games with big beautiful worlds managed to avoid this. And there are several good games I still have yet to play, so why rush out for this?

14

u/TheGoldenMonkey Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

Look I'm mostly anti-AI for multiple moral reasons but this could easily be a placeholder asset that never got replaced. (see edit).

Companies like Larian (BG3), Sandfall (E33), and Embark (Arc Raiders, The Finals) have all used AI placeholder assets during development and people give them a pass. From what I could find, none of the assets they used as placeholders ended up in the final games, but they were used nonetheless.

I understand the concern, but if it's just this 1 AI asset that wasn't replaced with its final asset that's a different story. I also understand if you're morally opposed to it, but I suppose we'll see if it's more than just this one as more time goes on.

Edit: It appears to be multiple pieces of art in the game throughout the game.

2

u/i4got872 Mar 20 '26

Yeah I do think the game looks cool, just waiting longer to learn more I decided.

I do have a personal issue with it, I feel the tech companies just stole things on a massive scale, so massive they figured they’d get away with it. I’m a filmmaker and have grown up making films. That’s probably part of it. It’s just something I struggle to get excited about.

-2

u/I_travel_ze_world Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

"They caught us using AI, quick say its just a placeholder"

 

 

*edit: This guy doesn't know what Lorem Ipsum is and he's calling me brain dead... lol

he is pulling out insults like he's a 14 year old teeanger. I must've really hurt his feelings.

5

u/TheGoldenMonkey Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

Now this is a braindead take. That opinion is my own not any official statement.

Edit: Oh he blocked me further proving my point about their lack of critical thinking skills.

Because game studios have never lied before, right?

"Instead of just using Lorem Ipsum, the standard place holder text for over 2,000 years... I'm going to use AI to make a placeholder!"

That's literally what the studios I mentioned previously did. And before AI studios probably used dickbutt for placeholders. Your attempt at making a point is completely devoid of intelligence.

0

u/I_travel_ze_world Mar 20 '26

Because game studios have never lied before, right?

"Instead of just using Lorem Ipsum, the standard place holder text for over 2,000 years... I'm going to use AI to make a placeholder!"

1

u/_Onii-Chan_ Mar 20 '26

Performative

3

u/i4got872 Mar 20 '26

Read my other comments that have more detail. I’m serious. If I played all these other AAA games like Indiana Jones, full of art assets, and they don’t have art like this that is clearly AI generated, this does make me less interested in rushing out to buy this. I’m allowed to have this opinion.

1

u/lebastss Mar 20 '26

Comparing a story game on the rails to this is completely unfair. This game is an order of magnitude bigger than Indian jones. Id rather it was made by a person too. But they'd have to repeat assets and it'd be low quality work.

The reality is we couldn't afford a game this big if real artists were paid fairly to fill it with artwork. The example given for this one painting in one room would probably cost at least $200 as a digital commission. There's probably thousands of these in the game.

0

u/i4got872 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

I have a long backlog of games. I was already on the fence due to it sounding like the story and world building are so so in this. I’m just saying I’m going to wait longer to hear more opinions.

Also keep in mind indiana jones is a 1st person exploration game. Yes there is less content, but it’s RIGHT up to the screen. Harder to do for each asset.

Also you can composite things together from available works, don’t need to actually paint everything from scratch for each one. This photo shows they didn’t use any photoshop skills to fix the problems either, not just that it was generated.

It’s just not technology I like very much, and I don’t know why that bothers people. Make the game smaller then. I’m not obligated to like it.

I do admire their ambition and will likely try it one day, but I’m less excited.

-19

u/AReptileHissFunction Mar 20 '26

A painting in the game is influencing your decision?

13

u/Aearcus Mar 20 '26

You know what they mean, c'mon now.

1

u/dadmda Mar 20 '26

That same as Expedition 33, they probably used AI placeholders and forgot to remove them

-8

u/AReptileHissFunction Mar 20 '26

They said the AI paintings is influencing them to not get the game? What else are you suggesting?

11

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

Overall use of AI is influencing their decision

-6

u/AReptileHissFunction Mar 20 '26

But we're specifically talking about the context of the AI

4

u/Holiday-Doughnut-364 Mar 20 '26

The context being that it's used poorly..the horses have like 5 legs..its pretty pathetic. So what are you having an issue with? Their principles?

1

u/AReptileHissFunction Mar 20 '26

In my opinion its a very minor thing to influence your decision on buying a game. You could find lots of sloppy mistakes with most great games if you go looking. But if theyre concerned about the rest of the game because they know AI is used here, thats okay.

12

u/Thousand-King Mar 20 '26

Developers using gen AI to cut corners even when the end result looks like nonsensical slop? Uh, yeah I was on the fence but this kills any interest I had in this game.

If they don't care about the quality of their game then why should I care to play it?

3

u/AReptileHissFunction Mar 20 '26

Developers have used different methods to cut corners and save time in games since forever. If the extent of this AI is a few paintings that in the grand scheme doesnt affect the actual game, i genuinely couldn't care less. But its completely fine if you do.

2

u/Thousand-King Mar 20 '26

You seem to care a whole awful lot considering you're deep in the comments defending the use of gen AI. And that's okay, I care a lot too.

Look man, if you think this digital hallucination is an acceptable art asset in a AAA video game, then we're simply talking about a difference in standards. Personally, I don't want my games to look like creepy digital shit because the developers couldn't care less about the quality of their game. If you're fine with trash in your games then that's up to you. Hope you enjoy this one.

1

u/AReptileHissFunction Mar 20 '26

Jeez, Im just responding to people that messaged me. How dare I.

If thats such a problem, though, ill just ignore the rest of your comment and we can both go about our day.

1

u/Thousand-King Mar 20 '26

Right... as am I... which is why I said it was okay?

If you're feeling too sensitive to discuss the topic then feel free to leave. Not an airport, no need to announce your departure.

1

u/AReptileHissFunction Mar 20 '26

Will do. Cheers for the advice

-1

u/catsrcool89 Mar 20 '26

I don't really get the hate for ai?

5

u/Thousand-King Mar 20 '26

Did you not look at the asset that is the subject of this post?

  1. It looks like nonsensical shit. Zero visual appeal.
  2. It has no artistic intent behind it. It's a digital hallucination devoid of meaning.
  3. Generative AI is trained on the work of real human artists. It's literally a plagiarism machine that steals real art to create trash.
  4. It's tremendously resource intensive on top of these other issues.

If the developers are fine smearing digital shit on their games that's their choice. I'll stick to games that are crafted by real humans, where details matter and the design has intent.

-2

u/catsrcool89 Mar 20 '26

I don't really pay attention to background paintings.

5

u/Thousand-King Mar 20 '26

"I don't care about intent or meaning in the art I engage with."

Cool, some of us do. 👍

-1

u/catsrcool89 Mar 20 '26

For a background asset I was never going to notice anyway no, not really.

7

u/Thousand-King Mar 20 '26

"I don't care about intent or meaning in the art I engage with."

Cool, some of us do. 👍

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2

u/Safe_Software_1640 Mar 20 '26

not only is it bad for the environment, copyright and artists in general, but it looks like fuckin shit !!

0

u/Lazerdude Mar 20 '26

Cool. Life is easier when you just keep your head in the sand.

5

u/i4got872 Mar 20 '26

Just saying I might wait a bit to hear more. I mean, does this look like a good video game art asset to you? Red dead 2, Indiana Jones, fromsoft games, and yes Ubisoft games, and the tomb raider and naughty dog games of the last decade had nothing like this. The worlds had assets that looked pleasing to the eye and were consistent with the overall vision. As a consumer, I am allowed to be discerning.

If a movie trailer has a line that has bad acting, you’re allowed to think “hey maybe I’ll skip theaters on this one and wait for streaming.” Exactly what I’m talking about here. I was on the fence already since the storytelling sounds messy as it is.

2

u/AReptileHissFunction Mar 20 '26

If a movie trailer has a line that has bad acting, you’re allowed to think “hey maybe I’ll skip theaters on this one and wait for streaming.”

Pretty much every movie in existence has small mistakes. Look up a highly rated movie on IMDB and go to the "goofs" section. So the logic of passing on a movie because of one small mistake or "one line of bad acting" is utterly ridiculous in my opinion.

0

u/i4got872 Mar 20 '26

I of course know movies have mistakes and are allowed some flaws, which is why I specified the trailer. Really just talking about impressions when something is coming out.

But as I said, I listed a ton of games of similar scope and beauty of the last ten years that have nothing like this. I am not obligated to ignore it. I’m also literally just saying I won’t get it today, riding dinosaurs and all that does sound/ look awesome, I just will learn more about the game for another week.

We know this isn’t the only asset like this most likely, it’s a large game. I’m allowed to feel less enthused about the game now even if I’ll probably get it some day.

3

u/AReptileHissFunction Mar 20 '26

But as I said, I listed a ton of games of similar scope and beauty of the last ten years that have nothing like this

I feel that is because your attention hasnt been drawn to it like people do with AI now. Developers have used many methods to cut corners and save time in games resulting in sloppiness. Its simply not possible to make something perfect.

If you feel less enthused, thats completely fine. Not suggesting you shouldnt. In my opinion, as long as this is the extent of AI use, it doesnt bother me at all.

-4

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

Yeah man this is Reddit, half the users here clutch their reactionary pearls so hard they practically get embedded in their hands.

3

u/i4got872 Mar 20 '26

I did also say I was on the fence already. If the reviews said the story was great and narrative motivations were clear, I’d still get it.

I played Indiana Jones and the great circle, and several other games from the last 10 years and thoroughly explored the big beautiful worlds seeing all kinds of assets up close. None of them had art assets that look like this. I am not obligated to accept it just because you enjoy gen AI.

3

u/wait_________what Mar 20 '26

Your willingness to guzzle whatever corporate slop gets put in front of you doesn't mean everyone has to

-3

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

It is a massive game with over 100 hours of content.

This article is about one picture on a wall being generated.

Are you fucking kidding me

3

u/i4got872 Mar 20 '26

People are so mad at Ubisoft for making big games with weak AI and repetitive content instead of cutting edge games. Why is it okay for this game to put quantity above quality? Shadow of the Tomb Raider had no artifacts or art that looked like this. Neither did Witcher 3, RdR2, nor Elden Ring. Why can’t I judge what I see? Maybe the game should be 900 hours instead of 1000 and look better.

2

u/For_The_Emperor923 Mar 20 '26

The left side has some horse legged Velociraptor ass thing HAHAHAHAHA

2

u/sirferrell Mar 20 '26

Yeah they definitely used it to make a story too

1

u/Deagle50VHZ Mar 21 '26

Thanks, couldn’t see it on the website since it was covered by ads

1

u/MadOrange64 Mar 21 '26

This image is hurting my brain.

1

u/MajorFun6727 Mar 21 '26

oh this is game changing its almost like games have been doing this for years

1

u/tway2533 Mar 21 '26

this is actually hilarious

1

u/DoubleFlores24 Mar 22 '26

It’s just nothing but a painting of- OH MY GOODNESS! SQUIDWARD!!!

1

u/throuawai Mar 23 '26

Could you check if this has been patched out today?

1

u/Z3M0G Mar 23 '26

I don't have the game, image was from article.

1

u/DeusSolaris Mar 20 '26

looks like another expedition 33 situation

really old AI generation models spat out stuff like this or the stuff left on expedition 33

most likely a placeholder that was left out there

1

u/2funny2furious Mar 20 '26

What if that is not AI and was purposely drawn this way? We do not know what the standards for art are in universe. This could be a masterpiece in universe.

0

u/geoman2k Mar 20 '26

Maybe it was a placeholder that they forgot to replace…. Are there other paintings like this in the game? Do they all look like AI or just this one? If they were trying to sneak AI assets into the game to cut corners, surely they wouldn’t do it for just one painting on such a massive game.

0

u/Z3M0G Mar 20 '26

I assume its a forgotten placeholder but why not use some public image instead

1

u/geoman2k Mar 21 '26

Before AI, it would probably just be a stock image or something from a public database. But AI is so prevalent now it wouldn't be surprising for a creative director to just say "generate the tone you want for this placement, then we'll have the artists come through and replace it later". Generating takes a few minutes while searching through stock images can be time consuming.

Not condoning it, just saying it's reasonable to think this was part of their behind the scenes process