The Game Awards had blockbuster announcements and several nostalgic surprises for gamers this year, but one game announcement in particular has faced intense scrutiny. Catly, a virtual pet simulator, had its debut trailer shown at the event. With the game’s art style quickly drawing accusations that the developer is relying heavily on generative AI to develop the title alongside the trailer.
Internet sleuths immediately began to look into SuperAuthenti, the studio working on the game. One of its co-founders, Kevin Yeung, has a history of involvement with games built around blockchain technologies. This has added fuel to the suspicion that the game will make use of generative AI, or potentially web3 technologies. At the moment, there is a decidedly anti-AI streak among a segment of gamers who view it with cynicism.
All of this negativity led SuperAuthenti to reach out to IGN to refute the claims that Catly is just AI slop. A PR representative for the studio showed IGN a different version of the trailer that contains footage of the game in action, which confirmed that at least the trailer itself didn’t make use of generative AI. The PR representative was also adamant that the studio and Catly makes no use of generative AI, blockchain technologies, or NFTs.
It’s tough to see a studio come under fire when the gaming business is already a difficult space to operate in. The silver lining here is that the game has people’s attention in a way it might not have without this controversy. SuperAuthenti can use this as an opportunity to continue to show the game’s development progress, as a way to capitalize on some of the limelight and use it to successfully launch the game once it’s ready.