Here’s today’s “Developer caught using AI” story! Panache Digital Games, creators of high-profile action-adventure 1666: Amsterdam has taken to X to apologize after players discovered the game’s use of AI in its released prologue, and has promised to have it all replaced by human-created art “soon.” And around and around we go.
“A number of people have raised questions or concerns to us about whether assets in our marketing and game use generative AI,” begins a post on Panache’s X account, following a swathe of players reacting furiously to the game’s prologue released to Steam shortly after its big reveal at Summer Game Fest. “We have a dedicated team of over a dozen talented and experienced artists. With them, we looked into the assets in question and found that there were indeed some early versions of assets that made their way into the the (sic) prologue. This includes some in-game portraits and external marketing assets.”
A number of people have raised questions or concerns to us about whether assets in our marketing and game use generative AI.
We have a dedicated team of over a dozen talented and experienced artists. With them, we looked into the assets in question and found that there were…— Panache Digital Games (@PanacheDGames) June 9, 2026
The post continues, “We are actively reviewing the assets in question. Human made versions will be released in an update dropping soon.” It then concludes with a sharp gear change from passive to active voice, stating, “We own up to this oversight and apologize for any upset caused. Please be assured that the Early Access and full game will not include any assets generated by AI.”
If anything, the overall message to take away from moments like this is—to my overly-optimistic mind—a positive one. Despite the ubiquity of AI tools among programmers and developers, the gaming community is by a loud majority furious about its use and capable of causing backtracking like this once a team is caught. To be found to be using AI in a game’s art is, by public decree, shameful, and the result must be mea culpa and self-flagellation, followed by having real human artists replace all the lazily plagiarized bullshit. So good!
This particular apology is one of my favorites. Panache writes about the genAI appearing in 1666 as if it crawled in against the team’s will, malevolent drawings that “made their way into the the” game all on their own. Those dastardly AI assets! But thankfully “over a dozen” of their best artists are now wrangling them all into a cage. Phew!
It’s a grim reality that genAI will be responsible for a large amount of the invisible code underneath the games we’re playing, undermining the great work of programmers and coders who will be being forced by middle-managers to fix Claude’s mistakes rather than hack their own from scratch, but at least with art we as players are able to spot it and call it out. There is no reason at all for AI assets to be used when prototyping a game, not least because the scratchy human-created work is a) far more fun, and b) immediately possible to spot and replace. It’s so obviously about seeing it can be gotten away with, with game after game after game “accidentally” leaving genAI shite in released builds. So all power to those spotting it and calling it out.
