Ads for four unconfirmed Activision mobile games–Guitar Hero Mobile, Call Of Duty: Sniper, and Call Of Duty: Zombies Defender, and Crash Bandicoot Brawl–all allegedly feature what players believe to be AI-generated art.
The news comes just a few days after Activision admitted to using AI-generated assets in Black Ops 6. Additionally, it appears that some of these mobile games may not even exist, as only Guitar Hero Mobile has been officially acknowledged on Activision’s social media.
The ads for these rumored games are reportedly appearing on Facebook and Instagram, and contain a link to a survey where players can share their opinions on the games, which have not yet been released.
The Guitar Hero Mobile ad in particular seems to have truly upset players who have viewed it. Art for the game features four oddly shaped guitarists, each holding an even more oddly shaped red guitar. The strange look of the ads doesn’t appear to be the result of Activision trying out a new art style, but instead features what players believe to be the hallmarks of AI-generated art: blurry, oddly shaped, and non-cohesive assets.
Even stranger, it appears that some of these mobile games may not actually exist. Guitar Hero Mobile, Crash Bandicoot Brawl, and the Call Of Duty titles have yet to be officially announced by Activision, and Guitar Hero Mobile is the only game with an ad that’s viewable outside of Facebook and Instagram ads.
Eagle-eyed fans did manage to dig up a Guitar Hero Mobile page on Geeklab, a mobile marketing platform that helps developers gauge player interest. Geeklab’s website says it exists to “create app store pages before the app is released, test product pages, research competitors, build assets, run surveys, run A/B tests, and optimize app stores.” Clicking “get” on the Guitar Hero Mobile page takes players to a survey (also hosted on the Geeklab site).
The two Call Of Duty titles and the Crash Bandicoot Brawl mobile game do not yet appear to have Geeklab pages, nor do they have official pages on Activision’s website, but Facebook and Instagram users are asserting that ads for all three games–plus Guitar Hero Mobile–are regularly running on the two Meta-owned social media sites. Art featured on the Guitar Hero Mobile Geeklab page also appears to include AI-generated assets, according to players. In addition to the bizarre shape of the guitarists and their instruments, the speakers on the stage appear to be facing in multiple directions at once.
“Thank you Activision,” reads one sarcastic player comment on the Guitar Hero Mobile Instagram post. “Thank you for killing any interest I may have had in your games. Makes not supporting you way easier.”
Activision declined to comment when asked about these ads and their reported use of AI-generated assets.