Ubisoft Faces Backlash Over AI-Generated Content in Anno 117: Pax Romana

Ubisoft admits AI-generated loading screen "slipped through" into final build of Anno 117: Pax Romana

Ubisoft has told Anno 117: Pax Romana fans that it will be replacing an AI-generated loading screen image, insisting it had "slipped through" and had only meant to be used as a placeholder. The Steam page for Anno 117: Pax Romana carries an "AI Generated Content Disclosure" - the first for an Ubisoft game - but that hasn't stopped fans complaining about the image, or insisting that they expect better from a premium game from a developer like Ubisoft. The image, which can be viewed in full here, shows a number of tell-tale signs that it's been generated rather than drawn, including disfigured or out-of-scale facial features, missing limbs, and strange set-dressing. A touched-up version is considerably less jarring, but some fans still take issue with the fact that it was based on a prompt rather than an original piece of art. "If they are going to go with cheap tools in their game, I will wait till the game is cheap," said one unhappy fan. Another, leaving a negative review on Steam, wrote: "I don't want to live in a future where every big studio that very well could afford paying artists instead chooses to steal from artists by using AI generated images. AI tools are bad for the environment, bad for the job market, on top of that the images look awful, genuinely an eyesore in a[n] otherwise beautiful game." Responding to Kotaku, Ubisoft said: "This image was a placeholder asset that unintentionally slipped through our review process. The final image is attached here and will replace the current version of this artwork with the upcoming 1.3 patch. With Anno 117: Pax Romana being our most ambitious Anno yet, we've assembled the largest team of artists ever for the franchise and to help meet the project's unique scope, they use AI tools for iterations, prototyping, and exploration. Every element players will experience in the final game reflects the team's craft, artistry, and creative vision." And it's not just images that seem to have been generated by AI, either. According to some players, the game's text localisation is also allegedly "still AI-generated", too. u/Taubenangriff posted a number of examples they believe were translated by machine, writing "nobody who has ever played an Anno before was let near translation work, and it is still AI generated slop to a large part. They got six million euros cultural (!) sponsorship from the German state, but the result is outright disrespectful to the German language". German text localization is still AI generated in the release version byu/taubenangriff inanno These issues persist despite the same user highlighting issues with the German localisation two months ago. Ubisoft unveiled Anno 117: Pax Romana back in June 2024. A new entry in Ubisoft Blue Byte's long-running economic city builder series, it whisks PC and console players back to ancient Rome and the Roman Empire.

Ubisoft touches up AI art 'placeholder' that slipped into Anno 117, but fans are not happy it was there to begin with: 'Of all the video games, not Anno'

The venerable city builder has long been praised for its gorgeous artwork, which seems to make this sting all the more. Ubisoft has been caught with its hand in the generative AI jar again, continuing a multi-year streak of formal insistence by the publishing giant that AI and game development are destined to be together. Anno 117: Pax Romana is the first Ubisoft game to appear on Steam with an AI content disclosure, though the statement notes "the final product reflects our team's craft and creative vision." It seems that vision includes some pretty janky background characters with nubs for hands, as players are spotting on Reddit. In the above thread posted by user MedicaeVal, there's an imgur gallery where you can see some dubious, muddy-looking figures in one of the game's illustrations. Kotaku shared another imgur gallery featuring artwork where some Roman senators can be seen with similarly uncanny looks -- one of them lacks a head, for example. That same Kotaku story shares a quote from Ubisoft explaining that first image and proposing a fix: "This image was a placeholder asset that unintentionally slipped through our review process. The final image is attached here and will replace the current version of this artwork with the upcoming 1.3 patch." The statement also notes that because Anno 117 is the studio's "most ambitious Anno yet," AI tools were merely a complement to "the largest team of artists ever for the franchise." Here's the new image Kotaku shared: While the new image looks a bit better, I'd say the use of the term "placeholder" is questionable when the final product is very nearly the same. It calls into question how much of the artwork is AI in the first place; after all, the fix here seems to have just been to paint over the AI asset where it was ugliest. It's proving troublesome for fans. On the aforementioned Reddit thread, user AlcoreRain commented, "Your post is the reason I won't buy the game for now. It shows that they have used AI as base for the art, and this picture is just not on the same level as 1800. If they are going to go with cheap tools in their game, I will wait 'til the game is cheap." Another reply from taytay_1989 reads, "Of all of the video games, not Anno!! What drew me to Anno 1800 was its gorgeous artworks." This issue has permeated other areas of the game too, with players on social media expressing concerns that certain language localizations are allegedly AI-generated. It's a particular shame with Pax Romana because, in some respects, it's one of the better city builders in recent memory. AI is also an increasingly ubiquitous gamedev tool these days: It's getting harder and harder to spot when the handcrafted stuff ends and the AI insertions begin.