Blizzard is investigating claims that upcoming Hearthstone hero skins are AI generated

GamesCard GameHearthstoneBlizzard is investigating claims that upcoming Hearthstone hero skins are AI generatedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Hearthstone promo image - Velen, leader of the Exiled

Blizzard says it is investigating allegations that pixel art designs for new Hearthstone skins slated to be released as part of the The Great Dark Beyond expansion were created with generative AI. While the investigation is still ongoing, the art in question has been removed.

The skins haven’t been released at this point, or even formally announced, but were datamined earlier this month as part ofpatch 31.0. The initial reaction was quite positive—they do look pretty cool at first blush, after all—but on October 26, 1000_toasters posted a thread on X laying out their belief that the images were AI generated.

YouTubeWatch On

YouTube

The AI claim is quite well argued. The Hearthstone images themselves are suspect in relatively small ways—Malfurion’s shoulder tattoo is wrong, for instance—but it’s a closer look at the artist, Trey Fore, that really sends up red flags.

Some images on Fore’sInstagramare “absolute AI classics,” as 1000_toasters put it: The wrong number of fingers, misaligned weapon shafts, objects going under what they should be going over, that sort of thing. “You can find tons of little details in a lot of their artworks that don’t make sense, and things that a human would just not draw,” 1000_toasters wrote.

Hearthpwn writer Imik noticed other oddities in their ownthread: Along with the incorrect shoulder tattoo, Malfurion’s horns and hair are off the mark, as is the symbol on Doomhammer’s Doomhammer. Small details, yes, but that’s where the devil is.

I tried to generate something via the Microsoft AI image generator, but I only mentioned the color of the armor, the bun, the color of the body, and the horde banner… It automatically made the doomhammer logo “Horde” as well. So it looks like it could be tied to AI. pic.twitter.com/cnDDz4kpRQOctober 26, 2024

The situation came to the attention of Blizzard fairly quickly: Community manager RidiculousHat said onRedditandXthat the Hearthstone team is aware of the claim and would investigate this week. And that’s where things currently stand: No smoking gun, but a strong whiff of cordite hanging in the air.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Regardless of how Blizzard’s investigation works out, the allegations are yet another example of the burden ofAI paranoiaand the reflexive suspicion of art that inevitably follows. “Authenticity” rather than quality or intent becomes the central question, and it’s left us, the users and fans, with a mess to sort out: Wizards of the Coast, for instance, was forced to admit that generative AI was used to make a piece ofMagic: The Gathering promotional art, just a few weeks after saying it wouldn’t do so, and a few days after stridently denying it—all of which only came to light because fans complained.

The core issue amongst all of this isn’t that AI-generated art is “bad,” although it often is, but that removing the human element from artistic creationremoves intent. As staff writer Harvey Randall said last year, “there’s no mystery to how an AI generated a beautiful night sky unless you’re unfamiliar with the tech—it was trained on a dataset of thousands of other night skies, then it made an educated guess.” More practically, it also removes jobs: As companies become able to churn out dozens of passable images with nothing more than generation software and a reasonably well-defined prompt, artists—people with actual skills, vision, andintent—are inevitably left behind.

Of course, even game companies who aren’t specifically looking to cut down on payroll have their own issues to deal with when it comes to hiring external artists—ensuring they’re not simply cranking stuff out with an image generator and a prompt. But they’re the ones “creating” and, more to the point, selling the products in question, and that rightfully makes it their problem to sort out. The fact that it seems to be such a challenge is a big part of why this AI paranoia persists, and as much as it sucks we should probably get used to it, because AI artisn’t going away.

pic.twitter.com/myXYoyJgdENovember 4, 2024

TOPICSBlizzard Entertainment

TOPICS

More about card gamesLegendary joker ports Balatro to the 44-millimeter screen of an Apple Watch, calls it ‘Wee Balatro’You should definitely grab today’s free Epic Store giveaway: this ‘dicebuilder’ might quietly be the best freebie of the seasonLatestCruel is a frantic run-and-gun shooter where you boot cultists out of windows in a cursed apartment block that wants you deadSee more latest►

More about card games

Legendary joker ports Balatro to the 44-millimeter screen of an Apple Watch, calls it ‘Wee Balatro’You should definitely grab today’s free Epic Store giveaway: this ‘dicebuilder’ might quietly be the best freebie of the season

Balatro being played on an Apple Watch

Legendary joker ports Balatro to the 44-millimeter screen of an Apple Watch, calls it ‘Wee Balatro’

Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles art

You should definitely grab today’s free Epic Store giveaway: this ‘dicebuilder’ might quietly be the best freebie of the season

LatestCruel is a frantic run-and-gun shooter where you boot cultists out of windows in a cursed apartment block that wants you deadSee more latest►

Latest

Cruel is a frantic run-and-gun shooter where you boot cultists out of windows in a cursed apartment block that wants you dead

Cruel

Cruel is a frantic run-and-gun shooter where you boot cultists out of windows in a cursed apartment block that wants you dead

See more latest►

Most Popular

My Summer Car, the absurdly detailed Finnish life sim about vehicle maintenance and drinking in your underpants, smashes into 1.0 after nearly a decade in Steam early access

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

Lords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its games

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’

If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video

Square Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fans

The Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcements

Path of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better loot

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals