Last month, Stellar Blade studio Shift Up released an AI-generated video, designed to show off the title’s in-development sequel, Stellar Blade: Blood Rain. The video was a mess and received the vitriol it deserved from the gaming community, both inside and outside Stellar Blade’s fandom.
At this year’s Gamescom, we got to sit down with DongKi Lee, CTO and Stellar Blade Technical Director at Shift Up. While the majority of our chat centered on the original game’s Switch 2 port, I asked Lee if he would like to address the situation. He confirmed that there were “concerns” and that the studio was taking measures to separate its different types of content.
The Shift Up Team Saw The “Concerns” Around Stellar Blade: Blood Rain’s AI-Generated Music Video
The Blood Rain music video didn’t look good. Evie’s face changed between shots, the environment was uncanny, the frame rates were choppy, and the music itself was just plain bad. Naturally, it bombed with fans, so at this Gamescom, I asked the studio’s chief technical officer what they were thinking.
“The reason we revealed that music video was to show more of the beauty of Stellar Blade Blood Rain,” Lee tells me. “We wanted to show the world view and the character Evie. We just wanted to show a little more of each, and we did that as part of the content.
“But then we do take seriously and importantly what the fans have been saying, and the concerns they have been expressing about the music video, and from now on we definitely want to make a clear separation between the two, like game-related content and what we would call experimental content, like what we are experimenting with.”
This video bleeds into wider concerns about AI and the creation of video games. Almost a quarter of games revealed during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live openly admitted to using AI, and one studio even ditched a writer, getting the technology to do her work. I asked Lee what Shift Up’s stance on the tech was.
“AI has a lot of influence and impact on game development. But when we are using certain technologies or tools, what’s important is the direction and purpose they serve. It needs to be used in a way that supports the developers’ creativity, know-how, and skills,” he says. “It should be used as a tool. That’s the direction, and its purpose would be to make a great, high-quality game.”
Our full interview with the technical director will be up tomorrow, and you can check out our preview of the Switch 2 version of the game right now.
- Released
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April 26, 2024
- ESRB
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M for Mature
- Developer(s)
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Shift Up
- Publisher(s)
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Sony Interactive Entertainment
