As part of cost-cutting measures, Ubisoft turned to AI-generated Assassin’s Creed stills and showcased “alternative” versions of the iconic character Ezio on its social media channels for Halloween.
However, Ubisoft’s move received harsh reactions from fans and industry observers.
The French publisher’s Twitter account in Latin America attracted both attention and criticism by sharing a “fake” Ezio image, so to speak. Forbes writer Paul Tassi underlined the novelty of an official Ubisoft account with 300 thousand followers sharing a work of art produced by artificial intelligence.
The post was later removed due to the character’s resemblance to a Fortnite figure and the odd depiction of a background character using gun grips like knives.
Ubisoft Netherlands later joined the fray by introducing its own AI-generated Ezio with Halloween-themed elements. In the post, it was implied in Dutch that a fun interaction was established with the fans by asking the question of the ideal Ubisoft game for this spooky situation.
The move comes after Ubisoft announced that more than 1,000 people had left the company last year as part of a cost-cutting initiative. While some departures were voluntary, others involved layoffs in departments in Europe, the United States and beyond.
Film concept artist Reid Southen expressed his distrust of the current direction of the gaming industry, criticizing the juxtaposition of layoffs with the use of AI-generated art.
Despite these challenges, Ubisoft maintains a workforce of over 19,000, including dedicated teams working on the Assassin’s Creed series and its various iterations. Many in the community questioned why the company did not use its existing pool of talented artists for the social media campaign.
In 2023, attention among fans has increased as companies increasingly use AI-generated images in their marketing efforts. Tools like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney have made creating synthetic art easier.
Therefore, while some make sense of Ubisoft’s move, others state that it is not appropriate for such a well-established company to do such a thing. What are you thinking? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments.