Catly Developer Denies AI and Blockchain Use Amid Controversy

Catly developer shares proper gameplay trailer following AI allegations

The developer of Catly has updated the game's Steam page with a proper gameplay trailer and screenshots, following allegations its game and trailer have been made with generative AI and blockchain technology. The trailer (on Steam but not yet YouTube) shows various cats wandering through surreal natural environments, as well as customisation options for cat types and multiple outfits. It also shows off the hyper-realistic fur in-game, which developer SuperAuthenti previously confirmed has been made in Unreal Engine 5. Catly was first revealed at last week's The Game Awards, described as an "open-world adventure" where players build their dream island and care for cats through "dressing up, building, farming, racing, skiing, and much more", according to the Steam page. Further gameplay details have been added. An online mode will allow players to collaborate from around the world on their cat creations and complete challenges with island residents. There will be farming sim elements as well as island building, plus templates and tools to design personalised outfits, furniture, houses, and gardens. SuperAuthenti came under fire following the game's reveal due to allegations it used generative AI for its game and trailer, as well as suspected links to blockchain technology. The studio's co-founder, Kevin Yeung, also co-founded TenthPlanet - a studio reportedly working on two blockchain games. The Steam page also includes a testimonial from known web3 investor and League of Legends producer Thomas Vu. SuperAuthenti said generative AI had not been used for the game or trailer. "In fact we are very surprised by such speculations," it said in a statement from a PR representative. "We do not think there are any existing AI tools that can produce a video like that. Industry experts have echoed this opinion."

Catly developer denies using generative AI or blockchain technology in its open-world cat game

The developer of Catly, an open-world cat game revealed at last week's The Game Awards, has denied using generative AI for the game's trailer, or the game itself. The game is set for release across Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Apple Watch and its trailer features a series of hyper-realistic cats that quickly raised eyebrows as viewers suspected generative AI was used. Since the reveal, reddit users noted various oddities and supposed indicators of AI art used on the game's website, some of which have reportedly been removed. Moreover, commenters suggested the developer has links to blockchain gaming and NFTs, which it has now denied. A statement from a PR representative for Catly's developer SuperAuthenti, shared with IGN and Game Developer, said generative AI had not been used for the trailer or the game. "In fact we are very surprised by such speculations," the statement reads. "We do not think there are any existing AI tools that can produce a video like that. Industry experts have echoed this opinion." Both outlets were shown in-progress shots of the trailer from The Game Awards, which seemed to confirm the trailer was not AI-generated. A co-founder of SuperAuthenti is Kevin Yeung, who also co-founded TenthPlanet - a studio reportedly working on two blockchain games. One of these is Alien Mews, a digital cat life simulation built in Unreal Engine 5 that on the surface shares similarities with Catly. Reddit users have also pointed to a previous game published by SuperAuthenti called Plantly: Mindful Gardening that's since been scrubbed from the internet but appears to have used blockchain technology. Catly's Steam page also includes a testimonial quote from League of Legends and Arcane producer Thomas Vu, a known web3 investor. Another quote is from Ben Brode, game director of Hearthstone, who responded on BlueSky to say he'd seen 20 minutes of gameplay footage and "thought it looked cool so they asked me for a quote", adding "it looks real enough to me, cats looked wild". As Game Developer reported, SuperAuthenti did not comment on any business connections, but stated "Catly is not a blockchain game" and "there are no NFTs". The statement continued: "Our company/project has never issued any blockchain currency and any NFTs. Our company does not and has never owned any blockchain currency and NFTs." SuperAuthenti also confirmed to IGN Catly has been developed in Unreal Engine 5, with "various software" used to produce hyperrealistic hair and fur. What's certainly clear is the prevalence of AI in the games industry makes it hard to ascertain what's AI generated and what's hand-crafted. AI is changing video game development forever, as its use is becoming widespread across animation, scriptwriting, voice acting and more. Most recently, Google detailed its Genie 2 tool it claims can create playable 3D worlds from a single image prompt. It stressed the tool is for "rapid prototyping".

Catly Creator Says Game Has No Generative AI, No Blockchain, and No NFTs - IGN

Hyperrealism, Actions, Cuddle, Speed, Islands, Fashion, Dreams, Snow, Robots, Plants. The developer of recently-announced virtual pet simulator game Catly has responded to allegations that the game's trailer and marketing was produced using generative AI, saying that no such technology was used in its announcement at The Game Awards, nor in the game itself. In a statement shared with IGN, a PR representative authorized to speak on behalf of developer SuperAuthenti said that generative AI was not used to produce the trailer, nor the game. Furthermore, the representative said the developer was "very surprised by such speculations," adding that "We do not think there are any existing AI tools that can produce a video like that. Industry experts have echoed this opinion." The PR representative also showed IGN a version of the trailer from The Game Awards that showed in-progress shots interspersed alongside the final version, which did seem to confirm the lack of AI use in the actual trailer production. Additionally, the PR representative said that other allegations suggesting that Catly was a blockchain game were similarly unfounded. They said that there has been "zero blockchain technology" involved in Catly or the company behind it, SuperAuthenti, and similarly there are no NFTs. "Our company/project has never issued any blockchain currency and any NFTs. Our company does not and has never owned any blockchain currency and NFTs." The spokesperson confirmed to IGN that Catly is being made in Unreal Engine 5, and said the developer uses "various software" to produce hyperrealistic fur and hair. Assertions that Catly was using generative AI technology began to circulate almost immediately after its trailer debuted at The Game Awards last week. The trailer itself featured hyperrealistic cats with brightly colored fur and features bounding around a fantasy playspace and interacting with a human wearing various detailed, high fashion outfits. The art style present was flagged by many critics as reminiscent of the hyperrealistic style often produced by generative AI. That said, Catly's statement is consistent with the current reality that game trailers of this quality are not within the reach of current generative AI technology without significant, obvious artifacting and other issues. However, others pointed out that while the trailer may be legit, the other aspects of Catly's promotion are still giving some off vibes. For instance, the game's Steam description awkwardly reads, "A Cat Open World, with Beautiful Cats. Hyperrealism, Actions, Cuddle, Speed, Islands, Fashion, Dreams, Snow, Robots, Plants -- all with and via Cats." And a few of the game's promotional art pieces had odd details similar to AI artifacting, such as the odd paws and nose of this cat: And the text on the wall inside the right-hand side of the building in this image: Others unearthed more images from the official Catly website that appear to raise even more questions about their veracity. Notably, the Catly website was down as recently as Friday, and remained offline over the weekend through today when we reached out to SuperAuthenti to ask about it. The website has since been reinstated, but a number of the old images have been removed. While SuperAuthenti confirmed to me that it did not use generative AI in either the trailer or the game itself, it did not respond to my question about its promotional images on Steam or on its website. As for web3, speculation of the game's ties to the technology surfaced as individuals unearthed the studio co-founder, Kevin Yeung's, ties to other blockchain games. Additionally, the game's Steam page features a glowing quote from League of Legends and Arcane producer Thomas Vu, who himself is a prominent web3 investor. However, it also contained a quote from Hearthstone and Marvel Snap creator Ben Brode, who has taken to Bluesky to say that he's heard nothing about either AI generation or web3 involved in Catly, and that his interest is sincere. "I saw 20 [minutes] or so of gameplay footage a few months back and thought it looked cool so they asked me for a quote," he wrote. For now, it does seem that SuperAuthenti is telling the truth about the Catly trailer at The Game Awards, though the question of whether or not, or how much, generative AI has been used in Catly's overall development and promotion remains to be seen. Generative AI is becoming an increasingly popular tool for game companies, too. Call of Duty reportedly sold an "AI-generated cosmetic" for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in late 2023, and fans accused Activision of using generative AI again for a loading screen this year. EA said in September that AI was "the very core" of its business. Unfortunately, as the technology becomes both more prevalent and more complex, it seems likely it will become increasingly difficult to tell the difference between AI-generated and human-crafted work. In Catly's case, we'll have to wait for 2025 to find out more about what exactly is behind those hauntingly rainbow cat eyes from the trailer.

The weird cat game announced at The Game Awards is not made with AI, developers say, and has 'zero blockchain technology' or NFTs

The developers of Catly, a game about cats, have denied using generative AI to create the announcement trailer that debuted last week at The Game Awards, and have also rejected suggestions that their game is built on blockchain technology or makes use of NFTs. We missed Catly when it was announced during last week's show, mainly because it came hot on the heels of big reveals of The Witcher 4, Elden Ring: Nightreign, and the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC release date -- it was a pretty busy moment. Viewers who weren't madly scrambling to cover the show saw it, though, and the video made quite a splash -- for all the wrong reasons. Accusations about the use of generative AI in the creation of the video quickly began flying on Reddit and Steam, driven by the uncanny valley look of the trailer and a general vibe described by one redditor as a "weird AI tinge." Some pushed back, saying generative AI isn't capable of producing a video of that quality; others suggested it was some sort of mix of AI-generated characters that were then modeled and animated traditionally. There was no smoking gun, but suspicions were heightened by images on the Steam page, which -- for lack of a better descriptor -- just have that look: Catly developer SuperAuthenti says it's not so, though. A PR representative authorized to speak on behalf of Catly told PC Gamer the company did not use generative AI to produce either the video or the game, and that it's surprised by the allegations because "we do not think there are any AI tools that can produce a video like that." To reinforce the point, the representative shared a brief video showcasing elements of the trailer in a pre-finalized state, without textures and backgrounds applied. I'm not an animator so I can't swear to its veracity, but it did appear to demonstrate conventional animation techniques being used in the making of the video. The trailer wasn't the only part of the Catly reveal to raise alarms. The Steam page, which has since been updated but remains available in its prior state via the Wayback Machine, said virtually nothing about the nature of the game, but contained what appeared to be a bizarre jumble of keywords in the game description: "A Cat Open World, with Beautiful Cats. Hyperrealism, Actions, Cuddle, Speed, Islands, Fashion, Dreams, Snow, Robots, Plants -- all with and via Cats." It also included a Steam update link to a "Catly fashion collection" of "cloth and accessories that redefine sophistication." The closing seconds of the trailer also seemed to point to many different ways to dress up your pretend cats, which some took as an indicator of NFTs in the offing. The rep said there is "zero blockchain technology" in Catly, however, and "no NFTs." Furthermore, SuperAuthenti has "never issued" any blockchain currency or NFTs, nor does it own any. Questions linger, though, because SuperAuthenti co-founder Kevin Yeung is also a co-founder of TenthPlanet, a game studio that is (or perhaps was) working on blockchain games, according to this 2022 VentureBeat report. One of them is called Alien Mews, "a digital cat life simulation metaverse" being built in Unreal Engine 5 -- just like Catly. Also raising some red flags on that front is the fact that Yeung seems to have nuked his LinkedIn account: A link to his page pops in search results, but the actual account has been deleted. Whether or not the criticism is founded, it's having an impact. Influencer Pokimane, who posted an enthusiastic tweet about Catly after it was revealed, claimed she had "no idea" about the alleged use of AI and eventually deleted the tweet. (Similar tweets posted by Ninja and Felicia Day are still up.) On the other hand, Ben Brode, the former game director of Hearthstone and currently chief development officer on Marvel Snap, stood behind his endorsement of the game on the Catly Steam page. "I actually got to watch like 20m of gameplay footage and I thought it looked cool!" he wrote on Bluesky. "I got zero kickbacks. If I got played I got played but it looked real and I was excited and I said so. You really think I would sell out my rep for NFTs?" As mentioned earlier, the Catly Steam page was updated today to provide a clearer look at what the game is all about, and now has a new trailer showcasing the game in action, with all sorts of cats wandering around in all sorts of outfits. Notably, the link to the Catly fashion collection has been removed. Questions remain, and all told it still looks a little sketchy at this point, but that's as far as it goes for now. It's possible, for instance, that Catly started life as an NFT game (perhaps Alien Mews) and was reworked to remove them in order to enable a release on Steam, which doesn't allow games with NFTs or cryptocurrency -- you don't actually need NFTs to sell stuff to people, after all. We'll get a closer look at what's actually going on next year: A release date hasn't been announced but SuperAuthenti said "more on Catly will be revealed in 2025."

Catly does not use generative AI or contain NFTs, devs say

After stirring up controversy at The Game Awards, Catly developer SuperAuthenti Co. has clarified that its game does not use generative AI or blockchain technology, Digital Trends confirms. Catly is an upcoming open-world adventure game that got a teaser trailer at this year's Game Awards. As soon as it aired, social media users began speculating about whether the "photorealistic" trailer used generative AI. When Digital Trends first asked a PR representative for SuperAuthenti if the trailer or project, which is described as being "technologically innovative" and featuring unique cats for every user, uses AI, we were initially told that the studio would not be answering further questions until 2025. Recommended Videos In the wake of speculation, a SuperAuthneti Co. spokesperson has now confirmed that no generative AI was used to "produce the video and the game." Digital Trends also viewed a progress video showing off how the trailer was made, which did highlight underlying 3D models. This information matches what was told to both IGN and Game Developer earlier today. Catly Trailer 4K - THE GAME AWARDS 2024 The spokesperson also claims that the project is "not a blockchain game" nor does it use NFTs. That became a topic of speculation after users connected SuperAuthenti co-founder Kevin Yeung to TenthPlanet, a web3 studio that was working on a blockchain game called Alien Meow in 2022, which had a similar description to Catly, according to GamesBeat. Please enable Javascript to view this content Even with that confirmation, there are still several unanswered questions around Catly. Though the studio says that AI was not used in the production of its reveal trailer, its statement does not confirm whether it was used in addition marketing assets. That includes its Steam page, which some have speculated used AI to generate its game description. It's also unclear what Catly's advertised technological innovation is and how it will be able to give each player a unique cat. Then there's the question of how an open-world MMO will work on an Apple Watch. We'll have to wait longer for those answers; further details will not be revealed until 2025, the spokesperson says. The final mystery lies around the newly founded studio itself, whose ownership outside of Yeung is still unknown. Digital Trends asked if TenthPlanet co-founder William Wei Chen is involved with SuperAuthenti, but the studio isn't revealing details about its staff or connections to previous companies yet. Catly is scheduled to release in 2025 for PC, Apple Watch, and Nintendo Switch.

Catly sparks controversy over alleged use of AI at The Game Awards

What started as a quiet reveal for Catly at The Game Awards 2024 quickly turned into a storm of controversy. The game, described as a soothing journey through the memories of cats and humans, seemed harmless enough -- until eagle-eyed viewers started calling foul. Accusations began to fly that the game's trailer was generated using AI, kicking off a debate that has only grown louder. The developers at SuperAuthenti were quick to put out the fire, insisting that Catly and its trailer were built using traditional tools like Unreal Engine 5. To prove their point, they shared an early version of the trailer and firmly denied any involvement with generative AI -- or blockchain, for that matter. According to them, the hyper-realistic details that sparked suspicion were simply the result of hard work, not machine learning. But not everyone is buying it. Some fans have pointed to strange visual quirks in the game's promotional artwork -- imperfections often seen in AI-generated images -- as proof that something doesn't quite add up. While the studio maintains its innocence, the discussion refuses to die down, shining a light on a bigger issue that's been simmering in the creative industry: where do we draw the line with AI? Whether Catly is guilty or not, one thing is clear -- this controversy has opened Pandora's box. It raises a question that's hard to ignore: Should developers come clean about using AI in their games, or is this just part of the changing times?

Meet Catly: the bizarre "AI slop" cat game that snuck into The Game Awards

This year's Game Awards brought us some highly anticipated trailers like The Witcher 4 and Elden Ring Nightreign yet one promo in particular caused an unexpected stir - cat-based open-world adventure, Catly. With its strange AI-esque visuals and distinct shift in quality and tone compared to the other AAA releases, gamers were naturally a little confused as to how it snuck into the coveted Game Awards announcements. While there's no strict formula for making the best video games, Catly stood out like a sore thumb leading some fans to speculate it could be an elaborate pro-NFT/Web3 project. It shouldn't come as a surprise, as the game's official Steam page reeks of AI, but for now, it's mere speculation. With unofficial evidence wracking up it seems Catly could be much more than just an innocent moggy adventure. The short trailer received heated backlash online after many gamers called it "AI slop". With a soulless AI-esque sheen and a hollow, frustratingly ambiguous plotline, the trailer did little to clarify what Catly actually is - other than a cat-based game available on Steam, Switch and Apple Watch (for some unbeknownst reason). The game's official Steam page isn't any less vague, with a strange description promising that players can "collect stories and chase memories through the eyes of both human and cat" - thanks Catly, very illuminating. The conspiracy doesn't stop there, as Redditor r/Nat-Chem discovered the dev has "direct ties to AI/NFT/blockchain gaming". Posting to the r/Games subreddit, Nat-Chem explains how SuperAuthenti's Co-Founder, Kevin Yeung previously co-founded TenthPlanet - a studio that worked on blockchain games including 'Alien Meow', a self-proclaimed "digital cat metaverse". Sounds familiar right? The theory runs a lot deeper, and I'd highly suggest checking our Nat-Chem's extensive research here. The theories trickled down to X where gamers were suitably peeved by the whole affair, especially after the game received sponsored endorsements from popular streamers Ninja and Pokimane (who has since removed her tweet). "Catly was straight AI trash. It's probably not even a game at all. They even went as far as paying some influencers to help hype it up. No shame," one X user commented. "I'm extremely disappointed that this was given any advertising," another added. For more Game Awards news, check out the new trailer for Naughty Dog's Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet featuring iconic logos and a delightful retrofuturistic aesthetic. If you're a game artist, take a look at the "rookie mistake" Alien: Rogue Incursion's art director never made again (and what we can all learn from it).