Manor Lords Publisher Has Banned AI Assets In Its Games, Calls Them "Cancerous"

"It is now written into our contracts if we're publishing the game, 'no f**king AI assets.'"

"If I sound frustrated, it's because, like, honestly, all this thing has done is made our lives more difficult."

"We've gotten to the point where we also talk to developers and we recommend they don't use any gen AI anywhere in the process."

"We're constantly having to watch and deal with it and try to prevent it from slipping in, because it's cancerous."

Hooded Horse has banned the use of AI-generated assets across all published products and requires explicit contractual prohibitions. The publisher enforces a "no AI assets" clause in publishing agreements to prevent generated art from entering final releases. Generative AI usage can be difficult to detect, and placeholder assets often migrate into released builds without clear traceability. The company recommends developers avoid any use of generative AI during production and maintains ongoing monitoring to prevent accidental inclusion. A precedent exists where a game lost an award after placeholder AI assets were discovered and removed. Industry responses remain mixed, with several studios facing criticism over AI-assisted assets.

Read at GameSpot