Crazy Taxi: World Tour’s reveal during the Xbox Games Showcase was a highlight, finally offering a look at the modern incarnation of the classic series. The excitement was quickly soured, however, when its Steam page revealed Sega has used generative AI in the game’s development.
The disclosure was vague, only managing to clarify that AI wasn’t used to replace actors’ performances. Following that news, Sega told Game Informer that AI was used “during the development of background assets.” At Summer Game Fest, however, series creator Kenji Kanno offered more details.
According to Kotaku, who attended a World Tour presentation at SGF’s Play Days follow-up event, Kanno, via translator, explained, “We used it as a reference.”
“So our artists would pull up [and] generate some of their ideas and then they would look at that, you know, generated image and then they would draw the actual thing. So actual creators, everything from programming to assets, everything is made by an actual human. It’s only used as a reference for them to look at and then they would actually create the actual thing that would go into the game,” he added.
Kanno was also asked whether the team is aware of the potential backlash that has accompanied similar declarations, and whether it has weighed the value of its continued use against the negative reaction it’s likely to generate.
“For us, the extent of how we use generative AI is only what I mentioned earlier,” Kanno explained. “[It’s] just for ideas and just as a reference. Moving forward in the future [generative AI] is probably going to be more of a hot topic, but I think that’s all I can say right now on how we use generative AI for this game.”
The use of generative AI in artistic mediums, including video games, remains controversial. Last week, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis developer Crystal Dynamics responded to complaints around its AI use by insisting, “Our goal is to empower the creativity and flexibility of our developers to deliver the highest-quality experiences for players everywhere.” That came just a few weeks after The Blood of Dawnwalker’s director said that while his studio hasn’t used AI in the game’s development, “companies should use AI”.
