Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse won’t work with studios using generative AI

Game publisher Hooded Horse has said that it is refusing to work with developers who are using generative AI.

Speaking to Kotaku, CEO Tim Bender wrote that the technology has “made our lives more difficult”. He added that part of its publishing contracts with studios is that they cannot use generative AI assets.

This even extends to using it for placeholder content that ultimately, if all goes to plan, will not make it into the final game. Bender’s concern is that these assets can slip through the cracks, as has happened in the past with projects such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

“We’ve gotten to the point where we also talk to developers, and we recommend they don’t use any gen AI anywhere in the process because some of them might otherwise think: ‘Okay, well, maybe what I’ll do is for this place, I’ll put it as a placeholder,’ right?” Bender said.

“Like some, people will have this thought, like they would never want to let it in the game, but they’ll think: ‘It can be a placeholder in this prototype build.’ But if that gets done, of course, there’s a chance that that slips through, because it only takes one of those slipping through in some build and not getting replaced or something.”

He continued: “Because of that, we’re constantly having to watch and deal with it and try to prevent it from slipping in, because it’s cancerous.”

Within the last few years, AI has become a hot topic within the games industry. Many major companies have adopted the technology to varying degrees. The CEO of Korea’s Nexon – the parent company of Embark Studios, whose Arc Raiders uses generative AI for some voice lines – has said that “it’s important to assume that every company” is using the technology. Meanwhile, Embark itself has said that it is not using AI to replace people within development. Sega has declared that it is using AI with hopes of making development more efficient, but has acknowledged “strong resistance” to the technology.

Meanwhile, the new CEO of Embracer Group, Phil Rogers, has said that AI is a “powerful” tool, but has emphasised that “human authorship is final” and Rockstar veteran Dan Houser has said he is using the technology, but adds that “it’s not as useful as some companies would have you believe yet”. Voice actor Troy Baker also said in a recent interview that the industry should not “demonise” AI as it “cannot create art”. Revolution Software’s Charles Cecil has also described his decision to use the technology in a remake of the original Broken Sword as “an expensive mistake”.

Platforms such as Steam tag games that are made with AI, something that Epic’s Tim Sweeney has said “makes no sense”.

In early 2025, the US Copyright Office has said that art made with generative AI but without human “creativity” cannot be protected by copyright laws.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz earlier this week, data specialist and NYU professor Joost van Dreunen said that “nobody wants AI slop”.