As AI continues to encroach on game development, the worry that the studios that make your favorite games are dabbling in the tech, especially for art assets and written dialogue, grows ever greater. Sometimes this concern and the scrutiny that comes with it are well-founded, but other times it leads to witch hunts with fans seeing AI-generated art where it actually doesn’t exist. Blizzard’s Overwatch team has been the subject of these moments of mass hysteria. So what exactly is Blizzard’s stance on genAI? Well, it sounds like the company itself is of one mind, while the Overwatch team itself is in a different camp.
In a group interview on Blizzard’s Irvine campus last month that Kotaku was present for, Overwatch leadership was asked by Eurogamer if the company had been integrating genAI into its workflow. Blizzard president Johanna Faries said the company wants to take a “dev-led” approach that allows its teams to use whatever tech is out there to “the extent that they’re comfortable” and in line with what the company believes is “responsible.”
“We do actually, at Blizzard, have a centralized governance team specifically focused on AI and the role it can or should play in our development cycles,” Faries said. “What’s great about that is it’s very cross-functional, so you’re going to have voices from around the horn thinking about not just what’s hot-topic now, but where do we want to be five, 10 years from now? What’s the implication on our teams? What’s the implication on our values? How do we make sure that we don’t stymie the opportunity for devs, artists, whomever, to want to play with new tools and play in the sandbox, if it unlocks creativity or gets rid of drudgery or what have you? We want happy devs, right?
“But to the extent that it can be an accelerant in our creative process, we also want to make sure that it’s a responsible tool and aligned with how we want to show up as a company,” she said. “So I feel very good in terms of the process we have in terms of vetting: is it secure, is it safe, is it values led? But I keep coming back to: I want the teams to feel safe, to explore to the extent that it drives joy in the work. And I think we have a good process, all up, in terms of making sure we’re doing it in a responsible manner.”
So it sounds like, as a company, Blizzard is open to allowing its developers to use AI if they want to, though Faries didn’t get more specific about the parameters under which it considers its use “secure,” “safe,” or “values led.” But what about the Overwatch team, specifically? Game director Aaron Keller doesn’t sound like a fan. In an interview with GameSpot, he said the Overwatch team wants the hero shooter to be a “handcrafted universe.”
Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller speaks out against adding AI-generated content to the game. pic.twitter.com/44ZznZWiXJ
— GameSpot (@GameSpot) February 4, 2026
“We don’t want to put AI-generated content out in front of players,” Keller said. “It’s just not something that we’re comfortable doing. I know it’s a moving space, right? I don’t know where players or society’s perception of this is going to be five years or 10 years from now. So it’s not like, I don’t think that there’s ever gonna be a ‘Hey, here’s a forever policy around it,’ but that’s just where we’re at right now. We want this to feel like a handcrafted universe, and it is a handcrafted universe.”
So it sounds like, for now, Overwatch won’t have genAI-created heroes, maps, or skins. These questions come after Microsoft, which acquired Activision Blizzard in 2023, has been reportedly pushing for AI use within the company. Blizzard teams, including those behind Overwatch and Diablo, recently unionized, with concerns about AI replacing artists being top of mind among organizers.
Overwatch is undergoing a revamp next week, dropping the 2 from its title, adding five new heroes, and restructuring its seasonal content to prioritize linear storytelling.
