Chinese Developer TiGames Defends Zoopunk Against AI Generation Allegations Following Xbox Showcase

Rabbit action game Zoopunk was made by humans not AI, says Chinese dev TiGames, as suspicions rise around Xbox showcase trailer

TiGames, the developer of rabbit-starring action game Zoopunk - one of the eye-catching trailers in Microsoft's Xbox Game Preview Event yesterday - has defended itself amid allegations of generative AI use. Suspicions arose after people noticed Zoopunk being part of an Nvidia announcement about new NPC-related generative AI tech. An accompanying video to that announcement focused entirely on Zoopunk and the generative-AI technology it will use, showing one of the game's developers talking to an NPC through a microphone and using voice commands to customise the appearance of a spaceship. "This innovative experience allows players to interact with NPCs and customise their own landing ship, showcasing the potential for player-driven generative AI in next-generation games," the video's description read. But Chinese developer TiGames has said Zoopunk was built by human hard work. Generative AI exists within the game, it clarified, but only in relation to user-generated content. "All our works are original creations and the culmination of our artists' hard work and dedication," the company said in a statement received by Eurogamer. "AI will only be used to assist players in producing user-generated content (UGC) at a lower cost, such as vehicle skins, clothing color schemes, and similar items. In other words, AI serves as a tool to support players in secondary creations and in maintaining the mod community." Zoopunk is a fully 3D follow-up to TiGames' 2.5D Metroidvania FIST: Forged In Shadow Torch from 2021. The game will once again star Rayton the rabbit, and the footage last night showed Rayton tearing around a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world on a motorbike, dispatching creature-people with dual-wielded energy swords. Think: Rise of the Guardian's Easter Bunny but with a trench coat and proper weaponry. "We spent a long time debating our next step. Deep down, we knew we wanted to continue expanding the world of Torch City. After countless moments of excitement, hesitation, and imagination, we finally made our decision - to breathe new life into the captivating universe of FIST," wrote TiGames in a Zoopunk announcement post on Steam. "Zoopunk is still in development, and far from perfect," the developer added. "That is precisely why we want to share our world with you early - to listen, to learn, and to grow this universe together with the players who care about it." Zoopunk has no release date and is in development for PS5 as well as Xbox and PC. You can catch up with all of yesterday's Xbox Partner Preview Event announcements elsewhere on the site.

Zoopunk Was Used To Demonstrate Generative AI Assets

Today's Xbox Partner Preview had a bunch of big announcements and trailers like a new look at the upcoming 007 First Light and the reveal of a follow-up to Vampire Survivors, but one of the surprise standouts for me was Zoopunk, a new action game by F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch developer TiGames, starring a bunch of anthropomorphic animals in a sort of dark, science-fiction post-apocalypse. However, as more news is trickling out, it's beginning to look like the game might be using AI generation tools, and that has deflated my interest. Zoopunk's fast-paced combat looks slick and stylish, but maybe a little stiff at first glance. I'm curious to see how it feels when the controller's in my hands. Growing up playing Devil May Cry made me very picky about character action games in the PS2 era, so if one doesn't feel good to play, I tend to bounce off of it very quickly. But what TiGames showed in the first trailer has potential. However, what didn't come up during the Xbox showcase was that Zoopunk was also used as part of a Stable Diffusion AI asset generation demo earlier this year. The video, which is currently "unlisted" on the game's YouTube channel, shows a user drawing simplistic equipment designs, which are then used to generate an in-game model. At the moment, it's unclear if this is integrated into the game itself, or if Zoopunk was just used as a demo for the AI model. An NVIDIA announcement from earlier this year also names the game as using AI-powered NPCs. We've reached out to TiGames for comment on the situation and will update this story if we hear back. Generative AI is creeping into video games more and more over recent years, with several executives at big companies insisting it should become the norm within the industry. Despite this, generative AI has become a legal battleground as these models are being trained on copyrighted works.