NetEase denies claims made by Suda51 that it's shut down an entire generative AI division

With almost every major games publisher and parent company talking excitedly about generative AI and the opportunities it could bring, I was taken aback this morning to see talk on my social media feed about NetEase reportedly scrapping a division dedicated to gen-AI and telling employees they were no longer allowed to use it. Unconventional, given how the likes of Ubisoft, Krafton, and Take-Two have all (to varying degrees) shown an openness to embrace AI tech. These claims appear to have arisen from comments made by beloved game creator and Grasshopper Manufacture founder, Goichi 'Suda51' Suda. However, having contacted NetEase for comment, the company has denied those claims.

Suda51's next project, Romeo is a Dead Man, is just around the corner. It was the most maverick game I got to preview at Gamescom last year, and Suda51 was certainly my most charismatic interviewee of the event too. However, speaking recently to Eurogamer, he discussed his lack of enthusiasm for generative AI, saying the content it creates always leaves him with the feeling that something is "off" and "kinda funky."

However, later in the interview, he claims that NetEase - the parent company of Grasshopper Manufacture since 2021 - had shuttered a research division dedicated to exploring the possibilities and benefits of gen-AI.

"As far as not using any AI for our games, it started as a NetEase policy for all their companies," Suda51 told Eurogamer. "They originally had a section researching and developing AI-related stuff, but at one point they decided not to do that any more. They folded that section and told their studios to not use AI in games, to not use it at all."

However, after I contacted NetEase to confirm or deny Suda51's quotes (and some more sensationalized claims on social media that alleged "staff have been explicitly instructed not to use AI tools in any capacity"), I received the following response from a spokesperson:

"The situation described did not occur, and we have not published any related policies."

While it seems pretty clear from Suda51's comments that gen-AI has not played a role in Romeo is a Dead Man, it would've been an incredibly surprising move for NetEase to step away from AI entirely. Some of its other studios have already published games with artificial intelligence baked in, such as the free-to-play action game Where Winds Meet, which features NPCs that can have unscripted, AI-powered conversations with you.

As flagged by NetEase's spokesperson, it will also be hosting a talk about some of the AI technology in Sword of Justice Mobile at GDC in San Francisco next month.

This is a bizarre situation, and perhaps a misunderstanding or mistranslation of events on Suda51's part occurred here. However, if you saw these recent claims and thought that NetEase was taking a rare, unexpected stance against generative AI, then I'm afraid you'll have to stop cheering for now.