Jagex is really squirming this time! Their MMORPG RuneScape revealed a new quest trailer for Dragon Slayer 2 at RuneFest, but shortly after the video aired, players spotted obvious generative AI artifacts – including a knight with six fingers and armor with weird sneaker-like structures. After the backlash spread quickly, Jagex pulled the trailer and stated they were “urgently investigating”.
Not our doing – it was an external partner
To make it more embarrassing, Jagex publicly took a “hard stance” against generative AI in January this year, with Senior Vice President of Product James Dobrowski promising that generative AI wouldn’t appear in any game assets players could “see, hear, or feel.” Now that the Dragon Slayer 2 trailer was caught with AI artifacts, Jagex explains the video wasn’t made by their internal team but by a “trusted external partner” who had confirmed they wouldn’t use generative AI beforehand. But with six fingers clearly visible in the video, players aren’t exactly buying this excuse.
Why are players upset?
Jagex Community Manager Alex “Mod Sween” Sween acknowledged that he understands why players feel the company’s statements have been contradictory. He says he’s not “knowingly lying,” but also admitted that the team should have caught these issues themselves and can’t simply shift all blame to partners. Making things worse, this isn’t the first time Jagex has been embarrassed by a partner using AI. Just days ago, a collaboration with 100 Thieves for Old School RuneScape costume designs was also caught allegedly using generative AI – which Jagex said they wouldn’t approve.
Now they’re really changing things – even bringing in community creators
After being burned by partners’ AI content twice, Jagex finally decided to fix their process. They stated that after RuneFest, they’ll comprehensively review and overhaul their content approval process. They also plan to work with community creators, even commissioning them directly to produce content, hoping to ensure Dragon Slayer 2’s story is presented at a quality befitting this major update. There’s no word yet on when or if the Dragon Slayer 2 trailer will be re-released or remade. But this incident has made some players wonder whether other RuneFest reveals also used AI – Jagex now really needs to get their approval process in order.