The sequel to Pinocchio soulslike Lies of P that was announced in 2023 is now in full production, as revealed by the latest earnings results posted by developer Neowiz. That development alone would normally be cause for celebration among fans of the 2023 breakout hit. But behind-the-scenes moves at the studio have cast a long shadow over what should be an unambiguously positive milestone. The source of the tension is Neowiz’s increasingly public embrace of generative AI for game development. A job listing for an AI Creator role, spotted by Captain Dandyfloss on Bluesky, has ignited a firestorm of criticism from a community that fell in love with Lies of P partly because of its handcrafted, meticulously detailed visual identity. The listing is explicit about its purpose: using generative AI technology to maximize the efficiency of the art production process and innovate the visual quality of games. That language, coupled with the specific responsibilities outlined in the posting, has left many fans feeling betrayed by a studio they once celebrated as an underdog success story.
What the AI Creator Role Actually Entails
The job listing, which Neowiz posted on its official careers page, offers a remarkably transparent look at how the studio intends to integrate generative AI into its art pipeline. The role sits within an independent Art R&D team at ROUND8, the internal Neowiz studio that developed Lies of P. According to the listing, the AI Creator will be responsible for a wide range of tasks that touch nearly every stage of visual asset creation. These include the creation of character and background concept drafts and the expansion of variations using tools like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney. The role also covers AI-based texturing and modeling assistance using image-to-3D technology, as well as full asset creation. Beyond generating new content, the position involves integrating AI tools into existing art workflows to reduce production time and build an efficient AI art pipeline. The AI Creator will also train unique AI models and build libraries optimized for each project’s art style using techniques such as LoRA and ControlNet. Post-processing work, including in-painting, out-painting, and high-resolution upscaling of AI products to a level applicable to actual games, is also part of the job description. Finally, the role includes identifying the latest generative AI trends and providing AI tool usage guides for in-house artists. This is not a peripheral or experimental position. It is a dedicated, substantive role designed to embed generative AI directly into the studio’s core production methodology.
Neowiz Says the Role Is Not for the Lies of P Sequel
In a statement provided to PC Gamer, Neowiz moved quickly to clarify that the AI Creator position will not be directly involved in the development of the Lies of P sequel. Instead, the individual will reside within an independent Art R&D team at ROUND8, working on broader research and development initiatives. GenAI tools, the studio explained, are only used in preliminary stage work to improve the efficiency of repetitive, foundational tasks. AI-generated visuals function strictly as internal reference material during pre-production, a method for establishing visual direction before formal production begins. The intent, according to Neowiz, is to build a proprietary visual library trained exclusively on assets for which Neowiz and ROUND8 hold full legal rights. All final assets for the upcoming game will be created by experienced artists. This distinction matters. Neowiz is not saying AI will play no role in the sequel. It is saying AI will not be responsible for any final, shippable art assets. The line between pre-production reference material and final production assets is significant, but for many observers, it is also blurry. If AI-generated concepts inform the visual direction of the game, and if AI models are trained to replicate the studio’s style, then the influence of generative AI on the final product is already substantial, even if no algorithm directly paints the final textures.
Fan Backlash Erupts on Social Media
The reaction from the gaming community has been swift and overwhelmingly negative. On Bluesky, where the job listing was first flagged, players expressed a mix of disappointment, anger, and betrayal. One user wrote that every single game discovered to use or promote AI has immediately tanked in interest across the board, adding that they cannot think of a single game that has done well after AI was discovered. Another user said they feel so disappointed after finding out the studio behind Lies of P is hiring AI artists for their sequel. A third commenter stated they have never felt this angry with a game developer, expressing sadness that with such a beautiful game like Lies of P, the sequel will be AI slop, and declaring they will not believe the studio anymore if they say there will be no AI in the development of art and story. One particularly blunt reaction captured the sentiment of many: once again, it does not matter how little or minor the usage of AI is, the user said, stating they will not buy the game no matter what, even if they really like the developer’s previous work like Lies of P. These responses reflect a broader and increasingly hardened position among a significant segment of the gaming audience: any use of generative AI, regardless of how limited or carefully bounded, is unacceptable. For these players, the presence of AI in the development pipeline is a dealbreaker, period.
The Unique Place of Lies of P in the AI Debate
Some of the intensity of the reaction stems from the particular place Lies of P occupies in the contemporary gaming landscape. The game was widely perceived as an underdog, a out-of-nowhere hit that took a genuinely bizarre concept and turned it into an exciting, memorable experience. PC Gamer’s Lauren Morton memorably described the concept as Pinocchiosouls in 2022, and the game delivered on that promise with a striking visual style that drew heavily from Belle Epoque and Art Nouveau aesthetics. The game’s world, from the streets of Krat to the grand hotel that serves as a hub, was praised for its cohesive, handcrafted look. Players felt they could see the care and attention of human artists in every frame. That perception makes the turn toward generative AI feel particularly jarring. If a game celebrated for its art direction now openly hires for a role focused on automating parts of that same process, it creates a dissonance that fans find hard to reconcile. Neowiz, however, is no small indie studio operating on a shoestring budget. The company reported Q1 2026 revenues of 101.4 billion Korean won, which works out to roughly 68 million dollars for a single three-month period. That is not the revenue of a games industry behemoth, but it is also not negligible. Neowiz has resources, and the decision to invest in generative AI is a strategic choice, not a desperate cost-cutting measure.
Industry Giants Are Also Betting Big on AI
Neowiz is far from alone in its enthusiasm for generative AI. The broader games industry is increasingly populated with executives who see AI as a transformative force. Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Hideaki Nishino recently stated that AI will enable gaming experiences like never before, a sentiment that echoes the promotional language of virtually every major platform holder. Google Cloud global director for games Jack Buser has gone even further, arguing that the advent of AI will straight-up save the industry. These are not fringe voices. They are the people running the largest gaming companies in the world. Even among executives who have publicly expressed caution, the track record is mixed. Xbox chief Asha Sharma, who came into her role after serving as president of Microsoft’s CoreAI Products division, promised to avoid soulless AI slop and ended development of Copilot AI on Xbox. Yet she has also loaded up Xbox leadership with AI executives, a contradiction that has not gone unnoticed by observers. The industry is clearly in a moment of transition. Some studios, like Gearbox under Randy Pitchford, have publicly stated a firm no AI policy. Others, like the studio behind the upcoming Lies of P sequel, are openly hiring for dedicated AI roles. The landscape is fragmented, and the consumer reaction is anything but settled.
What Sets This Job Listing Apart
What is particularly notable about Neowiz’s job listing is the absence of any preemptive apology or promised limitations on the use of AI. There is no hedging language about using AI only for placeholder assets or early concept exploration. The listing is direct and unapologetic: Neowiz is building an AI art pipeline, training custom models, and integrating AI tools into existing workflows. The company is clearly all-in on incorporating generative AI into its development process, despite how persistently unpopular that stance is with a large slice of the gaming audience. Even Peter Molyneux and Randy Pitchford, two of the industry’s most ebullient personalities, have been relatively cautious about their approach to AI in public. Neowiz, by contrast, is proceeding without any visible concern about the potential backlash. That confidence may stem from the company’s belief that the practical benefits of AI will ultimately win over skeptics, or it may simply reflect a calculation that the controversy will blow over once players see the final product. Either way, the lack of equivocation is striking.
The Technical Details of the Role Reveal a Serious Operation
Looking closely at the responsibilities listed in the job posting reveals that Neowiz is not dabbling in AI. The role requires expertise in Stable Diffusion and Midjourney for concept generation, LoRA and ControlNet for model training, image-to-3D technology for modeling assistance, and advanced post-processing techniques including in-painting and out-painting. The listing also mentions high-resolution upscaling of AI products to a level applicable to actual games. This is not a role for someone who simply knows how to type prompts into a web interface. This is a technical position that requires a deep understanding of how generative models work, how to train them on proprietary data, and how to integrate their output into a professional game production pipeline. The mention of building a proprietary visual library trained exclusively on assets for which Neowiz and ROUND8 hold full legal rights also indicates that the studio is aware of the legal and ethical complexities surrounding AI training data. Many of the most prominent controversies in generative AI have centered on the use of copyrighted material in training datasets. Neowiz appears to be taking steps to avoid that problem by using only its own assets. Whether that approach will satisfy critics who object to AI in principle is another question entirely.
The Broader Context of AI in Game Art Production
The debate over AI in game development is often framed in binary terms: either a studio uses AI or it does not. The reality is considerably more nuanced. Many studios already use AI tools for tasks like procedural generation, which creates game environments, levels, and textures algorithmically. Procedural generation has been a standard technique in game development for decades, used in everything from the original Diablo to No Man’s Sky. The difference with generative AI is that the tools are now capable of producing assets that are visually indistinguishable from human-made art, and they can do so at a fraction of the cost and time. That capability creates both opportunities and risks. On the one hand, it can democratize game development, allowing smaller teams to create visually impressive games that would otherwise be out of reach. On the other hand, it threatens to displace human artists and homogenize visual styles across the industry. Neowiz’s approach, as described in the job listing, attempts to navigate this tension by using AI for pre-production and reference material while keeping human artists in control of final assets. Whether that distinction holds in practice, and whether it will be visible to players, remains to be seen.
The Potential Consequences for the Lies of P Sequel
The immediate practical question is what this means for the Lies of P sequel. The game is now in full production, according to Neowiz’s earnings report, and the studio has stated that the AI Creator role will not be directly involved in its development. That suggests that the sequel’s visual direction is already established and that the core art team is already at work creating final assets. The AI Creator, if hired soon, would likely be working on future projects or on R&D that could inform later stages of development. But the announcement has already had an impact on how the sequel is perceived. Early buzz for the game, which might have been overwhelmingly positive following the success of the original, is now mixed with skepticism and distrust. Some players have already vowed not to buy the sequel, regardless of how it turns out. Even if those players represent a vocal minority, their influence on social media can shape the broader conversation around the game. Neowiz is essentially gambling that the quality of the final product will speak for itself and that players who might have objected to AI in principle will change their minds once they see the game. That is a risky bet, but it is not an unreasonable one. The gaming audience has a short memory, and a great game can often overcome pre-release controversies.
Lessons from Previous AI Controversies in Gaming
The games industry has already seen several high-profile controversies around AI, and the outcomes have been instructive. Games that have been discovered to use AI-generated art for marketing materials or in-game assets have faced significant backlash, with some developers reversing course and others doubling down. In several cases, the controversy died down once the game was released and players could judge the final product on its merits. The pattern suggests that the presence of AI in development is most damaging when it is seen as a substitute for human creativity rather than a tool to augment it. If Neowiz can convince players that the Lies of P sequel’s art direction remains firmly in the hands of human artists, and that AI is being used only to handle tedious or repetitive tasks, the backlash may fade. But the job listing’s language about building an AI art pipeline and training custom models suggests a more ambitious integration that goes beyond simple task automation. The studio is clearly investing in AI as a long-term strategic capability, not just a temporary efficiency measure.
The Legal and Ethical Dimensions of AI Training Data
One aspect of Neowiz’s approach that deserves closer attention is the commitment to building a proprietary visual library trained exclusively on assets for which the company holds full legal rights. This is a legally prudent move that avoids one of the most contentious issues in generative AI: the use of copyrighted material in training datasets. Many of the most popular AI image generators were trained on vast datasets scraped from the internet, often without the consent of the original creators. That has led to lawsuits, regulatory scrutiny, and widespread condemnation from artists and illustrators. By training its models only on its own assets, Neowiz is sidestepping that legal minefield. The approach also has the advantage of producing models that are closely aligned with the studio’s specific visual style, potentially yielding more useful and consistent output. Whether the resulting library will be large enough to train effective models is an open question. Training high-quality generative models typically requires very large datasets, and even a studio with Neowiz’s resources may not have enough proprietary assets to train a model from scratch. Techniques like LoRA and ControlNet, which are specifically mentioned in the job listing, are designed to fine-tune existing models with relatively small amounts of custom data, which may be a more practical approach.
What This Means for the Future of ROUND8 and Neowiz
ROUND8, the internal studio that developed Lies of P, is now at the center of an unfolding narrative about the role of AI in game development. The studio has a reputation for quality and craftsmanship, built on the strength of its debut title. The decision to hire an AI Creator and place them within an independent Art R&D team at ROUND8 suggests that the studio is thinking seriously about how AI can be integrated into its workflow without compromising the quality that made its first game successful. The independent R&D structure is a smart organizational choice. It allows the studio to experiment with AI tools and techniques without disrupting active production on the sequel. If the R&D team produces useful tools and workflows, they can be adopted by the production team. If the experiments fail, the production team is insulated from the disruption. This is how most successful technology transitions happen in game development: through dedicated R&D teams that validate new approaches before they are rolled out to the broader studio. Neowiz’s approach is methodical and pragmatic, even if the public perception is shaped more by the job listing’s provocative language than by the organizational safeguards the studio has put in place.
The Persistent Unpopularity of AI with Gaming Audiences
One of the most striking features of the current moment is the depth and intensity of opposition to generative AI among a significant portion of the gaming audience. Polls and surveys consistently show that a majority of players are at least somewhat uncomfortable with AI-generated content in games, and a substantial minority are actively hostile to it. This opposition is not limited to any particular genre or platform. It cuts across the entire gaming community. The reasons for this opposition are varied. Some players object on ethical grounds, citing the way AI models are trained on human artists’ work without compensation or consent. Others object on aesthetic grounds, arguing that AI-generated art lacks the soul and intentionality of human-made work. Still others object on practical grounds, worried that AI will lead to a homogenization of visual styles and a reduction in the diversity of game art. Whatever the reason, the opposition is real, and it is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Studios that choose to embrace AI are making a calculated bet that the benefits will outweigh the reputational costs. For Neowiz, that bet is now being tested in real time.
The Industry Is Watching How This Plays Out
Neowiz may not be a behemoth on the scale of Sony or Microsoft, but the company’s revenue and profile are substantial enough that its decisions are being watched by the rest of the industry. If the Lies of P sequel is a critical and commercial success despite the AI controversy, it will provide cover for other studios to pursue similar strategies. If the game underperforms, or if the controversy continues to dog its release, it will serve as a cautionary tale. The stakes, therefore, extend beyond a single game. They are about the direction of the industry as a whole. The coming years will likely see an increasing number of studios experimenting with generative AI, and the outcomes of those experiments will shape the competitive landscape. Studios that find a way to use AI effectively without alienating their audience will have a significant advantage. Studios that mishandle the transition may find themselves struggling to recover their reputations. Neowiz is in the middle of that transition right now, and the decisions the company makes in the coming months will have consequences that extend far beyond the fate of the Lies of P sequel.
A Calculated Bet on the Future of Game Development
Neowiz’s decision to hire an AI Creator and embed them within ROUND8’s Art R&D team represents a calculated bet on the future of game development. The company is betting that generative AI tools will mature rapidly, that they will become indispensable for competitive game production, and that the audience will eventually accept them as a normal part of the development process. That may turn out to be a correct bet. The history of game development is filled with examples of technologies that were initially met with skepticism and resistance before becoming standard practice. 3D graphics, physics engines, procedural generation, and even online multiplayer all faced pushback at various points before being embraced by the industry. Generative AI may follow the same trajectory. But the transition period is always the most painful, and Neowiz is currently living through that pain. The backlash is real, and it will not be easy to manage. The studio’s best path forward is to demonstrate, through the quality of its work, that AI can be a tool for enhancing human creativity rather than replacing it. If the Lies of P sequel is as beautiful and memorable as the original, and if the use of AI is invisible to players, the controversy may eventually be forgotten. If the game falls short, the AI angle will be a convenient and persistent explanation for why.
