It sure looks like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is rewarding its faithful players with AI-generated slop. As part of the shooter’s holiday-themed Merry Mayhem event, players can “earn XP to unlock zombie-themed rewards”. One of the items on offer is a loading screen titled ‘Necroclaus’, which shows a zombified Santa Claus reaching out toward the camera. But, players will likely need to work harder to earn it than Activision worked to make it, since the Necroclaus image appears to have been created using AI.
There are a few telltale signs, and the online community has zeroed in on the fact that Necroclaus has six fingers on his prominently displayed right hand. AI-generated imagery has often struggled with fingers and, given that there’s no obvious reason that a zombie Santa would have an extra digit, AI seems like the most likely culprit.
But that’s not the only detail that points to AI usage. The Necroclaus’ other hand seems to have an extra digit emerging from the wrist, too. The fingers on that hand only seem to extend to the knuckle and the hand is more detailed in some parts than others, as if the AI couldn’t decide whether Good Saint Nec was wearing a glove or not.
And the bow on the foregrounded present looks like a crumpled receipt. There’s no real rhyme or reason for how the wrapping paper is folded. The background is indistinct, though that’s partially obscured because it isn’t in focus. Necroclaus’s belt has a weird curve on the left side, his jagged teeth seem to overlap slightly, and his eyes are smeared in an indefinable gunk.
Activision Blizzard Seems To Have Done This Before
This isn’t the first time Call of Duty is alleged to have used generative AI, either. Wired reported in July that Activision Blizzard sold an AI-generated cosmetic item in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 back in 2023. That article juxtaposes that allegation with the fact that Microsoft laid off 1900 employees in January, many of whom were 2D artists. The link is clear: a gigantic corporation that can afford to pay human artists is taking the path of least resistance and saving a proportionally tiny amount of money by offering players AI slop as rewards.
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The sheer size of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard is what makes this so offensive. When a small movie like Late Night with the Devil used generative AI, it sucked, but I understood why and how it happened. Indie projects are typically barely scraping by to stay under budget and make their days and AI offers a cheaper alternative than paying actual artists. That isn’t a worthwhile excuse, and still represents a disdain for human creativity, but it’s at least slightly more justifiable.
But when we’re talking about corporations as big as Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, there’s no such excuse. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella got a $30 million pay raise this year, for a total pay of $79,106,183.
Could he not have taken, say, $79,006,183 instead? That missing $100,000 would scarcely be noticeable to him and could have insured that a 2D artist was well-compensated. Heck, if he dropped his compensation all the way down to $78,106,183, that’s ten 2D artists getting fair pay. If Nadella truly went wild and took home a paltry $69,106,183, 100 2D artists could get healthy salaries.
Income inequality can seem a little abstract at times. How does Nadella making $80 million negatively affect us regular people? But when you look closely at how his company has treated employees this year due to cost-cutting and look at how much his salary has increased, it’s clear that a whole lot of Peters are getting robbed to pay Paul. You don’t even need to look that close. Just slightly closer than whoever okayed that awful Necroclaus image.
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