Publication date: January 27, 2026
Written by Gavin Boyle
Gamers are furious as video game companies begin experimenting with how AI fits into the industry, causing multiple projects to change direction.
“Our professional careers were all canceled in an hour,” said Artem Korovkin, co-founder of game studio Goonswarm. said The Washington Post after his planned game “Running With Scissors” was canceled after it was accused of using AI-generated images in its trailer.
Although the use of AI images in the trailer does not imply that the AI assets will be used in the final cut of the game, players have voiced a boycott of the title due to the precedent set by the use of AI and the jobs that could be replaced by the use of AI.
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“Running With Scissors” isn’t the only game to fall victim to backlash after its use of AI was revealed.
Last year, one of the biggest games across the industry was “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.” The game has gained millions of fans and was awarded “Game of the Year” at The Game Awards, where the winner is chosen by public vote. The award was later revoked after it was discovered that AI played a part in the development process, even though none of the work done by AI was included in the final product.
“Everything in the game is created by humans,” says game director Guillaume Brochu. said polygon. “When AI first came out in 2022, we had already started working on the game. It was just a new tool, and we tried it and didn’t like it at all. It felt wrong.”
“We pulled it out as soon as we saw it,” Broche continued, discussing how the studio responded with a shortcut to using AI to cover up missed textures. “But the concept art, the voice actors, everything was created by humans.”
This widespread aversion to AI in the gaming industry is no less widely felt across the entertainment world. That’s because many projects choose not to use AI, even when it makes sense, for fear of backlash. For example, last year, Disney scrapped In the recently released TRON: LEGACY, the AI-generated character is literally an AI sidekick.
Although the use of AI was denied at the time, Disney has since gone full steam ahead with the technology, announcing plans to bring an AI system to Disney+ that will allow users to generate content using the company’s IP.
If AI is shut out of the gaming industry, it will be interesting to see how video games begin to separate from other forms of entertainment as other industries embrace or at least tolerate the streamlined workflows that come with AI and new technologies.
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