On the face of it, the launch of Pearl Abyss’s Crimson Desert this week has been a big success. The ambitious, single-player open-world action-adventure game sold over 2 million copies within a day of release, and the reviews on Steam are mainly positive. Critics have also generally received the game with enthusiasm, praising the combat and the breadth of the game’s world.
Alas, the launch has been now overshadowed by accusations around undeclared use of generative AI. For now, I’ve seen no suggestions that core elements were made with AI, but quite a number of examples have been found of odd-looking in-game art that bears the hallmarks of AI image generation. Does that matter? For some players, it does.
The fact that Crimson Desert has been received so positively makes the accusations of AI art all the more disappointing for many. Suspect in-game images flagged up on social media include a painting of soldiers with nonsensical merged weaponry and a painting that appears to feature a deformed, mutant horse with extra limbs.
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I found this in game piece of artwork. Is this AI generated? from r/CrimsonDesert
I found this in game piece of artwork. Is this AI generated? from r/CrimsonDesert
Some players have dismissed the complaints, seeing this background art as a minor part of the game that doesn’t detract from such a dense and extensive world as Crimson Desert’s. But many disagree that the issue that can be ignored.
The kinds of artifacts that people are spotting resemble fairly basic generative AI flaws, so some players are taken aback that they could make it into the game without any attempt to touch them up. For some, that raises questions about the game’s overall credibility. With a reported budget of over $130m, surely developers didn’t need to resort to AI.
“Please do something about the AI paintings. It takes away from any seriousness,” one player wrote in a comment on a post on the game’s X account. “If I stumble upon a painting in a game I except it to either be significant or beautiful. But genAI paintings are less than nothing. Leaving a bad taste in many of our mouths.”
The AI art in Crimson Desert is not an accident. Previously they also used AI in one of Black Desert expansions. from r/CrimsonDesert
Apparent use of AI in previous games has also reemerged. For some, it’s a slippery slope, which means a line has to be drawn.
“If you let them use AI a little bit, over time they will use it for everything. Shaming lazy ass disgusting big corporations / devs is always a good thing,” one person argues on Reddit
“If they used AI on the bits you can see, just how much has been used in the bits you can’t see?” another person wonders. “The writing is extremely suspect as are the inexplicable puzzles.”
What makes the alleged used of AI in Crimson Desert particularly concerning is that there’s no disclosure of it in the game’s description on Steam. This would make it a violation of Steam’s policy on AI use, which exists to provide transparency and allow gamers to make an informed decision on whether they want to play a game that was made using AI. Pearl Abyss doesn’t disclose the use of generative AI on the Steam page and, at the time of writing, hasn’t offered a response to the accusations.
The use of AI art in video games remains hugely controversial. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was even stripped of its Game of the Year and Best Debut awards at the 2025 Indie Game Awards because some AI-generated placeholder textures slipped through to the initial launch.
What do you think about the Crimson Desert AI accusations? Is the use of generative AI serious enough to put you off playing the game?
