Crimson Desert Hit by AI Art Controversy on Launch Day as Pearl Abyss Stays Silent
Pearl Abyss's Crimson Desert sold 2 million copies on launch day, but players quickly spotted telltale signs of AI-generated art in environmental paintings. The absence of any AI disclosure on the game's Steam page has raised questions about potential violations of Valve's guidelines.
Pearl Abyss's long-awaited Crimson Desert posted an impressive 2 million copies sold on its first day. But the celebratory mood didn't last long. Images suspected of being AI-generated have been spotted in environmental art throughout the game, and the controversy is rapidly spreading across Reddit and Bluesky.
An Uncomfortable Discovery Right After 2 Million Sales
Crimson Desert finally launched after multiple delays, and while critical and user reception has been mixed, the sales numbers were overwhelming. It debuted with a Metacritic score of 78 and Steam user reviews started at 'Mixed' before climbing to 'Mostly Positive.' But from launch day itself, players began spotting oddities in decorative paintings and portraits hung throughout the game world.
The images in question are environmental art pieces: oil painting-style battle scenes, medieval woodcut-inspired decorations, and ornate portraits. The fact that these are background props rather than core gameplay assets or cutscenes has led some to suggest this could be a quality control failure rather than deliberate AI usage.
Three-Fingered Warriors and Tangled Horse Legs
The most striking example is a painting shared by Bluesky user Lex Luddy, displayed in an ornate gold frame. It appears to depict a historical battle, but closer inspection reveals grotesque anomalies: horse legs sprout from human torsos while human bodies emerge from horses, creating a mosh pit of bizarre centaur-like abominations. The warriors' faces are mushy and indistinct, and figures on the ground are indistinguishable from rocks.
Signs of AI: three fingers on the hand holding the bag and four on the left hand is the biggest giveaway. Also AI does linocut patterns this way where the strokes aren't consistent and has wonky folding for clothing. I could be wrong... would love to be, but I'm 99% sure it's AI. - Reddit user Ok-Error-403
Reddit user Rex_Spy even provided directions for anyone wanting to see the painting firsthand: head to Oakenshield Manor in the southwest part of the first town, where it hangs on the staircase at the back. Other players have since discovered and shared similar examples from across the game world.
Valve's AI Disclosure Policy and the Steam Page Gap
What elevates this beyond a mere aesthetic debate is Valve's policy. Since early 2024, Valve has required publishers releasing games on Steam to disclose the use of generative AI. Yet Crimson Desert's Steam page contains no such disclosure.
If the in-game art was indeed AI-generated, Pearl Abyss would be in violation of Valve's disclosure guidelines. However, critics note that Valve's policy has its own weaknesses. Disclosure relies on developers voluntarily reporting AI usage, and there are no clearly defined penalties for non-compliance. A recent industry survey found that nine out of ten game developers support AI disclosure requirements, though opinions diverged on whether Valve's current approach is adequate.
The Precedent Set by Clair Obscur
A similar situation has already played out. Last year, players discovered AI-generated assets in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and developer Sandfall Interactive explained them as 'temporary placeholder textures' that the team failed to remove during QA.
This precedent highlights two things. First, it shows how difficult quality control for environmental art can be in massive open-world games. Crimson Desert features the sprawling world of Pywel filled with countless details. Second, player communities are becoming increasingly sophisticated at identifying AI-generated imagery. The characteristic artifacts of AI-generated images have become widely recognizable, making it harder for such content to go unnoticed, whether used intentionally or by accident.
What Card Will Pearl Abyss Play?
Pearl Abyss has several options. It could patch out the suspicious images, add an AI disclosure to the Steam page, or explain them away as placeholder mistakes like Clair Obscur did. GameSpot has reached out to Pearl Abyss for comment, but no official response has been given yet.
What's certain is that players are already combing every corner of Crimson Desert's world looking for additional examples. Despite the commercial success of 2 million copies on day one, the AI art controversy is casting a shadow over the game's reputation. As generative AI usage becomes an increasingly sensitive issue in the games industry, transparent disclosure and community trust have never been more critical.