Developers of 1666: Amsterdam were caught using AI assets in the game, and the studio admitted the mistake and apologized for it.
After 1666: Amsterdam attracted attention during the recent Summer Game Fest with its dark trailer, it very quickly found itself at the center of a completely different story. Players immediately noticed that certain portraits and promotional materials looked a little too much like they had been generated by artificial intelligence. After being called out by the community over this discovery, Panache Digital Games admitted that AI assets had indeed been used in the promotional materials and promised that they would be replaced with hand-made versions.
The most interesting part of this whole situation is that what sparked the biggest debate was the studio's explanation and public response. Panache Digital Games claims that the AI-generated images were early versions of assets that accidentally ended up in the prologue and marketing materials. The studio literally says that it has a team of more than ten artists and that all of the controversial assets will soon be replaced with human-made work. In other words; AI was indeed used, but it was never supposed to remain in the public version of the game that fans would see.
Fans across the internet are divided on the issue. One part of the fanbase forgives them and believes it's okay since they at least admitted the mistake and are replacing the assets. Others believe they never would have admitted anything if people hadn't caught them and think they're not being honest about the whole situation. A lot of comments were actually going in that direction, saying that the apology is welcome but probably wouldn't even exist if players hadn't noticed the AI content.
1666: Amsterdam went from being one of the most interesting reveals of Summer Game Fest to becoming a new AI controversy in just a few days. The studio admitted its mistake regarding the use of AI assets, apologized, and promised to remove them from the prologue, Early Access, and the final version of the game.
The question now isn't whether AI-generated images were used, but whether players will believe that it was truly an accident and not something that was supposed to slip by unnoticed.
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