Back in December, Battlefield 6 came under fire for releasing cosmetics that appeared to be made at least partly with generative AI. As Kotaku reported at the time, EA was aware of the issue and trying to investigate the cause throughout the winter break. Were players right to freak out? EA isn’t saying. The closest we’re getting to an answer is a new patch that changes some of the in-game items accused of being slop.
“Updated the Objective Ace and Winter Warning cosmetics to better align with Battlefield’s visual identity,” reads one of the changelog notes for Friday’s 1.1.3.6 Battlefield 6 update. The company doesn’t go into any further detail about what was changed and why, but players immediately connected it back to last month’s Christmas week controversy.
The original backlash came when players noticed an M4A1 emblem from the winter cosmetic pack that EA was selling had two barrels. That sparked an investigation of other recent additions to the game for anything that looked vaguely off, including a bear that seemed to have extra claws. Some fans also criticized EA in early January for the Objective Ace operator mask that looked very similar to that worn by Call of Duty‘s Ghost.
How could such a glaring rip-off make it into the game? Once again, some players blamed the use of genAI. Kotaku reported last month that one of the potential issues had to do with the sheer volume of content promised for Battlefield 6‘s launch and beyond. Without proper resources and quality checks, junk could make it into the game in any number of ways. Call of Duty has had its own challenges with genAI garbage slipping through as well.
Despite EA CEO Andrew Wilson’s embrace of emerging AI technology to fundamentally reshape the company, EA VP Rebecka Coutaz, who oversees DICE and the other teams making Battlefield, told the BBC last year that no genAI would make it into the final game. She didn’t promise, however, that it wasn’t being used at all during the development process. EA is currently set to be sold to Saudi Arabia and a group of other investors sometime this summer.