Phantom Blade Zero developer rejects gen-AI and promises “every single piece of content in our game has been crafted by the hands of real artists”

Wuxia-inspired action game Phantom Blade Zero is now in the final stages of development ahead of its launch later this year, and developer S-Game has released a statement about its stance regarding the use of generative AI in development.

“We are fully aware that a profound technological revolution is unfolding around us. However, to this day, every single piece of content in our game has been crafted by the hands of real artists. We will not use AI visual tech that could alter our artists’ original creative intent,” said S-Game CEO Qiwei Liang, better known by his alias ‘Soulframe’, in a post shared via the game’s official account on X.

This seems to apply to every aspect of the game, from the character models, which were built from 3D scans of the cast, to voice acting in Chinese and English “with full lip-syncing for both languages”. According to S-Game, even the weapons handled by the protagonist were forged by real swordsmiths before being put to good use in motion capture sessions.

The attention to detail and authenticity extends to the environments too: “We also visited many stunning locations across China, from ancestral halls in Fujian to ancient towns in Zhejiang, and even old steel factories in Beijing. We scanned these places and reimagined them in unexpected combinations to build something truly original: the visual identity we created and defined as Kungfupunk.” The in-game maps, meanwhile, were hand-drawn using Chinese brushes and rice paper by artists from the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

The Beijing-based studio also underlined the team is now in the final stages of development, “pouring every available resource into pushing every aspect of the game to the absolute limit of our capabilities.” At the time of writing, Phantom Blade Zero is set to release on PS5 and PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store) on 9th September.

As the controversial use of gen-AI becomes more commonplace in the industry, it’s notable that S-Game is speaking out against it. In a rousing final statement, Liang said: “We firmly believe that human artistry is not merely a means for creating value; it is the value itself… S-Game didn’t just hire a group of developers to make a game; rather, in our pursuit of continuously building an exceptional, passionate team, we decided to make a game that everyone here could be deeply proud of.”