The First Descendant initially made waves in 2024, surpassing 200,000 concurrent players on Steam and quickly becoming one of the most popular free-to-play games on the market. But more than a year later, the game has lost roughly 95% of its PC player base. And as if that weren’t enough, the title recently sparked a heated debate over its use of artificial intelligence.
Nexon Uses AI-Generated “Streamers” to Promote Season 3
Over the past weekend, promotional videos for The First Descendant went viral (but for all the wrong reasons). The clips appeared to show popular streamers praising the game while gameplay footage highlighted the Season 3 update, including a crossover with NieR: Automata.
The issue, however, is that said streamers were not real. They were created entirely with generative AI, and viewers quickly noticed unnatural speech patterns and awkward facial movements. Some fans even suspect that the video scripts were written with AI, although this has not been confirmed.
Reports indicate that the campaign included at least four videos featuring these AI “creators.” While the content didn’t appear on Nexon’s official TikTok account, the clips were uploaded as unlisted videos and eventually surfaced on social media, triggering widespread discussion.
One video drew particular attention for featuring a streamer who closely resembled YouTuber DanieltheDemon, highlighting the potential risks of AI-generated likenesses.
Nexon Responds, But Questions Remain
As the controversy grew, Nexon issued an official statement, though it left many questions unanswered. The South Korean publisher did not apologize directly for the use of AI, and instead explained that the videos were submitted through a TikTok “Creative Challenge,” a campaign that allows creators to voluntarily submit content for use in advertising.
According to Nexon, all submissions undergo TikTok’s verification process to check for copyright violations, but for some reason, the AI-generated clips for The First Descendant bypassed the filters.
Nexon and TikTok are now investigating the incident, and the studio apologized for the delay in addressing the situation. Meanwhile, DanieltheDemon stated that he never gave permission for his image or voice to be used and has no affiliation or contract with The First Descendant.
