The six-fingered zombie Santa in Call of Duty Black Ops 6's Season 1 Reloaded update became infamous as an example of how not to use AI in video game design. It was pilloried online, with gamers blasting the artwork as "unacceptable" – and yet it's still in the game, apparently.
It wasn't the first time CoD had faced controversy over AI use, and gamers soon started picking out other suspect assets, making us fear the worst for the upcoming Black Ops 7. Now we finally have the closest thing yet to an explanation from the game's developer Treyarch. But the excuse isn't very convincing.
