Tim Bender, indie publisher and CEO of Hooded Horse—known for its extensive catalog of deep strategy, simulation, and role-playing games, particularly on Xbox Game Pass—has recently criticized the implementation of AI art in video games. Taking a firm stance, Hooded Horse has essentially called for a ban on gen-AI art concerning the games it chooses to be involved with.
In an interview with Kotaku, Hooded Horse’s Tim Bender states that it is “now written into our contracts if we’re publishing the game, ‘no [expletive] AI assets.’” Tim Bender’s disgust for gen-AI art is palpable, and it’s this strong opinion that has led to what is sure to be a positive outcome in the workplace, safeguarding Hooded Horse in the future.
Hooded Horse Stands Against AI
Tim Bender notes that gen-AI art has made his life “more difficult in many ways,” so it isn’t surprising that his response to gen-AI art is so passionate. He sees the use of gen-AI art as an ethical issue in video games, and not a PR one:
“The reality is, there’s so much of it going on that the commitment just has to be that you won’t allow it in the game, and if it’s ever discovered, because this artist that was hired by this outside person slipped something in, you get it out and you replace it. That has to be the commitment. It’s a shame that it’s even necessary and it’s a very frustrating thing to have to worry about.”
But rather than merely expressing his evident disdain, Tim Bender and Xbox Game Pass publisher Hooded Horse have already taken action to thwart gen-AI art for all the best possible reasons. For instance, he proposes to developers that they shouldn’t use any gen AI “anywhere in the process” as a preventative measure:
“Like some people will have this thought, like they would never want to let it in the game, but they’ll think, ‘It can be a placeholder in this prototype build.’ But if that gets done, of course, there’s a chance that that slips through, because it only takes one of those slipping through in some build and not getting replaced or something.”
The Publisher’s CEO Didn’t Hold Back
Addressing gen-AI art as “cancerous” and unethical, Tim Bender discusses how it would be considered a “betrayal” to Hooded Horse’s two full-time artists, whose jobs are to produce marketing assets, including anything that might appear in an Xbox Game Pass release. This precaution also demonstrates how often this must occur in the video game industry’s development and publishing spheres if it truly is “cancerous,” suggesting its malignancy is something that can seep into any project—on Xbox Game Pass or otherwise.
Xbox Game Pass Publisher Officially Bans “Cancerous” AI Art
