Shift Up CTO Clarifies Stellar Blade Developer's Stance on AI After Blood Rain Music Video Controversy

Shift Up’s chief technology officer, DongKi Lee, has clarified the developer’s stance on AI after a music video for Stellar Blade: Blood Rain sparked backlash last month.

The music video, set to an upbeat pop song titled "Wanna be in Love," featured AI-generated images and footage that focused on Blood Rain’s main character, Evie, as she sang, danced, and made her way through the game’s futuristic world.

The public response was far from positive; players instantly lashed out at Shift Up for eschewing human employees in favor of having AI make the video, criticisms that the developer’s CEO, Kim Hyung Tae, argued against.

"EVIE, the character at the heart of this video, was created from head to toe by our talented artists and modelers through more than a year of dedicated work. The AI is not creating her from scratch. It is rendering and presenting the character based on the data, designs, and craftsmanship our team created. We would truly appreciate it if you could view the work with that understanding in mind," he wrote.

Shift Up’s CTO has now shed a bit more light on the situation now that tensions have cooled. In a September 2 interview with TheGamer, Lee explained that the company merely wanted to show off more of Evie’s world with its AI music video, and clarified that such content is "experimental" and not a reflection of the official game.

"The reason we revealed that music video was to show more of the beauty of Stellar Blade Blood Rain. 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," he began.

"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."

Lee went on to clarify Shift Up’s stance on AI, saying that such technology should be used as a "tool" to make a good product.

"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. It should be used as a tool. That's the direction, and its purpose would be to make a great, high-quality game," he said.

Unsurprisingly, the reactions from players haven’t been any more positive in light of these new comments, with the overall sentiment being that, rather than relying on AI to make a promotional music video, Shift Up could have relied on its talented employees, instead.

"'More of the beauty of Stellar Blade Blood Rain,' gang, y'all could've just animated it to show that much better," one remarked on X.

"They could have 'shown more of the beauty' by creating a music video themselves. Lol," another said.

"If they wanted to show the beauty of the game, why not just release a trailer? They definitely came up with this excuse after it caught fire," another wrote.

The use of AI in game development has been a hot-button issue over the last few years. Several titles have been at the center of this debate, including the highly-anticipated Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, which developer Crystal Dynamics has confirmed they used AI for early prototyping, but maintained that its "finished content is human-created."

It remains unclear if Blood Rain will officially include AI, but based on Lee’s latest remarks, it seems as though Shift Up views it as a 'tool' to make a better game and support the craft and skill of its developers.