Blizzard Entertainment was recently criticized on social media for descriptions of new zones in the World of Warcraft: Midnight expansion. Reddit users noticed the frequent use of the words "mystery" and "secrets," which raised suspicions of AI use, although there was no official confirmation at the time.
The company was busy presenting the expansion at Gamescom, but did so without live broadcasts, through influencers, which did not generate much interest.
In an interview, the developers of WoW and Overwatch 2 talked about how they plan to use AI. WoW's lead visual artist Gabriel Gonzalez noted that AI helps the team get rid of routine work, freeing up time for creativity. An example is the selection of helmets for different races: each character is unique, and manually adjusting helmets is difficult and boring. AI facilitates the process, allowing you to focus on more important tasks.
But they don't plan to use AI in creating stories. Maria Hamilton, Deputy Director of Design for WoW, emphasized that stories are better received if they are written by people. AI is only needed to relieve talented employees from monotonous work, such as writing zone descriptions. Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller added that AI will gradually be integrated into many tools and processes in the industry.
