Blizzard’s beloved MMORPG World of Warcraft existed for more than 20 years without the use of generative AI, and it will continue to exist without AI for the foreseeable future. Following similar sentiments from the team working on Blizzard’s Overwatch, the WoW team have confirmed that they are not using generative AI for their new content.
In an interview with Game Informer, World of Warcraft: Midnight lead composer Leo Kaliski explained that no one on the WoW team is using generative AI. Additionally, as the composer, Kaliski confirmed that no generative AI was used to produce any of the music for the game’s new expansion.
Kaliski explained that AI-generated photos often look real if you don’t look closely, but AI generated music “still feels quite a way off”. Nevertheless, no one on the art side of WoW is using AI in an effort to speed up production. “I think we here at Blizzard feel very lucky and happy that we’re not using generative AI,” he said. “We’re just writing what we think is cool, and are happy to do that. That’s my stance.”
In a recent interview, Overwatch game director Aaron Keller explained that the teams at Blizzard are taking an anti-AI stance, although it’s not a “forever policy” for the team. For now, as well as for the foreseeable future, Blizzard doesn’t want to give AI-generated content a spotlight.
“We don’t want to put AI-generated content out in front of players,” Keller said. “That’s just not something that we’re comfortable doing. We want this to feel like a handcrafted universe, and it is a handcrafted universe.”
Keller confirmed that the Overwatch team doesn’t want to use AI to “create characters or gameplay” with Blizzard working to maintain the “Blizzard standard” that it’s worked decades to keep. Again, this doesn’t mean AI will never be part of Blizzard titles, although we hope the studio will stay away, but it won’t be part of its games for a while.
Of course, this all comes after the massive backlash against generative AI from gamers and the general public. Following Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s AI slopfest, players have turned against the scummy technology even more.
In recent months, Larian Studios, the developer behind Baldur’s Gate 3 has banned the use of generative AI for its upcoming Divinity RPG. Additionally, Warhammer company Games Workshop has prohibited the use of GenAI to “protect human workers”.
With Generative AI now being dubbed the “asbestos of the internet”, it’s clear that gamers want their games to have soul, especially if they’re paid for. While some titles like Arc Raiders can survive with AI generated content, many titles are rightfully criticised for its inclusion.
Even without GenAI, Blizzard is seemingly pushing out more content than ever before with a slew of upgrades coming to WoW, new DLC for both Diablo 2 and Diablo 4, and faster Overwatch updates. If anything, the last thing the studio needs right now is for AI to get in the way and ruin everything.
