Between players criticizing convoluted controls, investors dumping the developer’s stock, and reviewers sharing mixed opinions, the colossally hyped action-adventure game Crimson Desert has had a rollercoaster ride of a launch week. Now, players are adding to the mix by debating whether Pearl Abyss’ latest release incorporates AI-generated art.
Since Crimson Desert came out on Thursday, several players have shared screenshots of in-game art they suspect to be AI-generated. One in-game painting, shared by Lex Luddy on Bluesky, looks so absurd it’s hard to believe it wasn’t sloppified. It looks like it’s supposed to depict some kind of historical battle, but scrutinize it for an extra moment or two and you see a mosh pit of centaurs and other strange half-man half-horse abominations holding up spears.
The people on the ground next to them seem to morph into rocks, too. (This painting is also displayed in the most ornate gold frame I’ve ever seen. That horrific art is not worthy of such a nice frame!)
Players have debated whether some other in-game paintings were created by AI as well, such as this woodcut painting shared by Reddit user Ok-Error-403. “Been playing for 6 hours now and honestly am loving the game, but damn is it really disappointing to see Pearl Abyss use AI art every now and then throughout the world,” they wrote. However, plenty of other players have responded to say they disagree and don’t believe this particular painting was made by AI.
Whether these paintings are just placeholder art accidentally left in for release, a poor attempt at getting away with AI art, or just wonky for some other non-AI-related reason is unclear. Crimson Desert is an overwhelmingly big game with a sprawling world and tons of details and systems sprinkled throughout it. Poor in-game paintings could just be the result of sloppy quality control.
Since early 2024, Steam has required publishers to disclose generative AI use on their games’ store pages. If Crimson Desert really does use generative AI art, even accidentally, developer/publisher Pearl Abyss is breaking a pretty big rule here. It’s unlikely that Crimson Desert will get in any sort of serious trouble with Valve (after all, the game did just sell two million copies in a single day), but it might have to add a disclosure notice after the fact or quickly patch out the offending examples.
Either way, I’m sure there will be plenty of unhappy players, including me, who’re now dreading running into these images as we make our way further into the game’s world of Pywel.
Pearl Abyss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
