Last week, it was discovered that The Alters, 11 Bit Studios’ sci-fi narrative management game, included undisclosed use of generative AI in its background flavor text, translations, and image assets. The ensuing anger from players has sullied the reputation of the otherwise well-received title, and the developer has issued a response.
The Alters launched on June 13 to positive reviews, but the discourse began this past weekend when players began sharing their discoveries of AI prompts for background flavor text as well as translated subtitles. One Bluesky post showed a screenshot of a computer display with generic science text accompanied by a prompt reading, “Sure, here’s a revised version focusing purely on scientific and astronomical data.”
Other players found the localization of various languages has clear evidence of being generated using AI due to bizarre or outright incorrect translations, or simply displayed similar AI prompts. One example shared on Bluesky is from one of the in-game licensed movies, in which a subtitle, translated to Brazilian Portuguese, reads “Sure! The text translated to Brazilian Portuguese is: Every conversation two people can have, right? So we-“
“Honestly, a beautiful game but I don’t get why the devs felt it was necessary to use genAI,” reads on negative Steam review. “The icons for Earth Calls seem to use AI (or concept art refurbished through AI). Flavour text on one of the displays contains a piece of original prompt. Heavy AI use in its marketing. But worst of all the translation has major problem with AI. So far I noticed Russian, German and Portuguese all having lines straight up saying something like “Sorry, I don’t know how to translate Moollie. Can you give more context as to what it means?” or just prompt text instead of actual lines. It’s heartbreaking to see such unique artistic vision ruined by AI. I am very disappointed in an otherwise good game. i hope the devs will listen and fix it in the future.”
The other big sticking point is 11Bit’s lack of transparency regarding its use of AI. Since January 2024, Steam requires games to disclose if a game features AI-created content, both pre- and live-generated. At launch, The Alters’ Steam page did not include this disclaimer. “Generative AI use is not acceptable, reads another Steam user. “Undisclosed generative AI use is even less so. I would not have purchased with this information, and I will not be buying from 11 bit again.”
Today, 11Bit has shared a lengthy response on social media. The developer states it used certain AI-generated assets strictly as temporary placeholders in a “very limited manner.” The studio claims one particular AI-generated graphic meant as a development placeholder for a piece of background texture snuck into the final release due to “an internal oversight”. 11Bit claims this asset is being updated, while also sharing a screenshot of the graphic in question, explaining, “While we do not want to downplay the situation, we also want to clearly show its limited impact on your gameplay experience.”
For the translation issues stemming from the localization of the licensed movies featured in the game, 11Bit says those were added during the late stages of development and were externally produced; thus, it was not involved in that creative process. Furthermore, these elements required last-minute translations, and the studio cites “extreme time constraints” for why it did not utilize its usual translation partners, instead turning to AI in order to localize the videos by launch. 11Bit says updated translations are in the process of being implemented.
11Bit also points out that the offending translations for those external movies represent 0.3 percent of the overall text in the game (10K words out of 3.4 million across multiple languages). It says the alternative was to release those specific lines of dialogue only in English, which it believed would be a worse decision. “In hindsight, we acknowledge this was the wrong call,” says 11Bit.
The studio also apologizes for not disclosing its use of AI, saying, “Even more so, no matter what we decided, we should have simply let you know.”
You can read 11Bit’s full response below (click the image to enlarge):
