Ubisoft has recently come under fire after creating a promotional poster for Assassin's Creed created using an AI generator. The questionable creation was made using Midjourney, and fans were quick to voice their strong opinions on the piece, pointing out a number of design flaws.
Whether you're for or against the use of AI art, a big brand like Ubisoft would be wise to check the finer details of its AI-generated art before it graces social media. (For a more bespoke artistic approach, check out our guide on how to download Photoshop, to create art from scratch).
Ubisoft literally conducting layoffs this year and last month, and they're posting AI art. Unbelievable.What the hell is the game industry doing right now. pic.twitter.com/XVbzqcbw9DOctober 31, 2023
Taking to X, Ubisoft Latam launched the poster to unsuspecting fans, captioning the post with the hashtags "#IA" "#MIDJOURNEY", in the hopes of maintaining some transparency with its fans. While at a glance the poster appears fairly inoffensive, on closer inspection Ezio's right hand looks a little warped and an examination of the background reveals a suspiciously misshapen-looking flailing character riding a horse.
The controversial poster is made worse in the context of a series of recent staff layoffs, which left fans disappointed with Ubisoft's choice to prioritise AI art. One frustrated X user bluntly commented "Hire an artist," while another scathingly said "Ubisoft has wonderful artists. Why not ask them to create an original work? Embarrassing."
Me: “well hang on, that looks pretty decently detailed, are we sure it’s AI art… oh. Oh, yeah it is.” pic.twitter.com/kV7YJVRZrKOctober 31, 2023
I really love how Ezio I’m the front has no hidden blades while posing like he has them, and the guy in the background holds his blade like it’s a gun for some reason pic.twitter.com/042mXyFj2pOctober 31, 2023
Others pointed out the laughable details of Ezio's character design, like the fact that he appears to be brandishing an invisible blade. While AI can be sophisticated, it always seems to get tripped up by hands but in this instance, it actually got it right. Well, that would be the case if Ezio didn't canonically have 4 fingers – a major plot feature in the game series.
It's disappointing to see a game giant like Ubisoft utilising AI art in such a lazy way that appears to snub real artists, especially in a climate where AI-generated art is so contentious. Even big brands like Disney are having to bat away AI art allegations, but what does AI art mean for creativity? At least (for the moment) those pesky phalanges are always a dead giveaway.
