Color me shocked, The First Descendant's awful AI ads result in a total mess

Nexon, the developer of looter shooter The First Descendant, has apologized and says it's investigating after an AI ad for the game appeared to use a streamer's likeness without their permission. A series of AI-generated ads encouraging people to play the game appeared on TikTok over the weekend, and while all are pretty god awful, one has been highlighted in particular for using the likeness of 'DanielTheDemon.' While not directly addressing this specific allegation, Nexon says it's aware that "inappropriate" AI videos were posted to its main account, and that it's launching a joint review with TikTok to figure out what happened.

Even without the issue of ripping a content creator's likeness without their consent, these The First Descendant ads are truly terrible. I've always believed that The First Descendant is worth giving a go - it's a free PC game with some exciting combat, cool characters, and a pretty decent grind, and I think my brief pitch is probably more convincing than the bizarre, AI-produced ads that appeared on its TikTok channel the last few days.

As these videos began to go viral (for the wrong reasons), the apparent inclusion of DanielTheDemon - or at least, an AI reproduction of him - began to raise eyebrows. Then, in a reply on TikTok that was spotted by VGC, the streamer said: "I have no affiliation nor contract with The First Descendant. They stole my face/reactions from my most viral video and used AI to change what my mouth says and a voice that isn't mine. I did not consent for my likeness to be used."

Nexon has now seemingly removed the videos from TikTok and issued a public statement explaining the "certain irregularities" that have been flagged with its campaign.

Dude wtf pic.twitter.com/8XlFhFPi8V

— Moxsy (@MoxsyOG) August 16, 2025

"As a part of our marketing campaign for Season 3: Breakthrough, we recently ran a Creative Challenge program for TikTok creators, which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials," it says. "All submitted videos are verified through TikTok's system to check copyright violations before they are approved as advertising content.

"However, we have become aware of cases where the circumstances surrounding the production of certain submitted videos appear inappropriate. Thus, we are conducting a thorough joint investigation with TikTok to determine the facts. We sincerely apologize for the delay in providing this notice as the review is taking longer than expected. Once the verification is complete, we will promptly share an update through an official notice."

Creating trailers and ads with AI is already a risky move - remember the response to that Ark Aquatica trailer? But doing so with a campaign like this where you seemingly don't have full control of the output is just asking for problems. It's frustrating to see The First Descendant get caught up in this, because it really isn't a bad game. Yes, it has its issues and this writer would, admittedly, rather dedicate their time to Destiny 2. But it's getting regular updates, its player count on Steam is in a fairly decent spot, and it nails a lot of the essentials that any good looter shooter should. Hopefully this situation discourages Nexon (and other publishers) to use AI in such an irresponsible way again.

For more, check out our list of the best multiplayer games right now. I'm sure some of them have had their fair share of controversies too, but they remain the top competitive experiences on PC. If that's your kind of jam, make sure you're equipped with some decent gear by going to our best gaming mouse guide.

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