Activision Publishing, Inc., founded in 1979, is one of the most influential video game publishing companies in the industry. Activision is currently a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2023, making it part of Xbox Game Studios. The company is recognized for its involvement in hit titles and franchises, like Call of Duty, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Crash Bandicoot & Spyro the Dragon, and Skylanders. Activision also owns Guitar Hero, a popular rhythm game from the 2000s that was discontinued until now.
Activision faced criticism from its fans in December 2024, when players of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 noticed irregularities in in-game artwork. This consisted of characters with extra fingers, arms, eyes, etc., and they indicated Activision’s incorporation of AI-generated images. Activision responded to the criticism in February 2025 by updating the Call of Duty Steam page to disclose that generative AI tools were used to develop various in-game assets. This update merely confirmed player’s AI suspicions and did little to avert backlash.
Only a week later, on February 28, 2025, Activision endured another wave of AI centered backlash. Over the weekend the company posted an ad for an upcoming Guitar Hero mobile game on its Instagram account, gaining immediate attention from followers and fans of the franchise. Although many expressed excitements at the prospect of a new Guitar Hero game, more shared outrage over the ad’s obvious use of generative AI.
Activision also posted ads for two nonexistent games: a mobile Call of Duty Zombies game, as well as one called Crash Bandicoot Brawl. These ads also featured ai generated content which added more fuel to the company’s ongoing AI controversy. Many followers wondered why they were seeing fake advertisements at all. When these ads are clicked on, they take users to fake app store page where they can “download” the game, only for this to redirect users to a new page that reads, “Thanks for your interest! This isn’t a real game, but could be some day. We’d love if you could answer this short survey, which could help inform the potential future of this game. Your feedback really matters to us!”
The survey features five questions. The first asks what made users click on the advertisement, the second asks how often the user plays mobile games, the third asks players to select the games they have previously played from a list, the fourth asks the user to describe how the game seems based on a collection of predetermined adjectives, and the fifth question asks why the user plays games on a mobile device.