Riot Games Addresses Wild Rift Sivir Trailer AI Controversy
Riot Games recently launched Sivir’s trailer for League of Legends: Wild Rift, and they made a huge mistake that enraged the Wild Rift community. After the recent flop that was the release of the Wild Rift trailer featuring Sivir, Riot Games caught all the flak in the world and some more.
The trailer showcased a major pronunciation mistake of Sivir's name. The community wasted no time venting their frustrations on social media, accusing Riot Games of relying on AI for content creation instead of boosting the quality of their product, especially after the rough start Riot had in 2023 with the infamous League of Legends cinematic. The Wild Rift community bashed the company for what they are seeing as a lack of commitment to quality and to the community.
However, Riot Games swiftly hit back, setting the record straight on the real culprit behind the pronunciation situation. Contrary to what the AI rumors say, Riot Games admitted that the blunder was a result of poor voice direction, not artificial intelligence gone rogue.
Taking to the League of Legends Wild Rift Twitter account, Riot Games addressed the scandal head-on:
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The spark that ignited this social media wildfire happened on November 23, when the League of Legends Wild Rift Twitter (X) account dropped an announcement video focusing on Sivir’s release. The voiceover pronounced Sivir as "severe," triggering a wave of rage among fans.
Critics, including Korizon Esports co-founder Ashley Kang and Galint Gaming founder and CEO Kevin Dhir, didn't hold their words. Kang said he was disappointed Riot didn’t just use the iconic voices already associated with Wild Rift and League of Legends, which would automatically boost the quality of the video.
Dhir, on the other hand, questioned how Riot Games could let an error of this size just slide, especially when the community suspected AI was used. It seems the community is not just passionate about the game and lore but also in the ethics behind it.
While the Wild Rift trailer scandal exploded on social media, it’s not the first, or the last time, that Riot is at the center of a scandal involving the use of AI as a production boost.
Earlier this year, League of Legends LAN launched a cinematic for their Esports division created using AI, which was also heavily criticised at the time.
The Wild Rift trailer situation also reignites the ongoing debate about the use of generative AI in gaming. While gamers push back against the idea, game developers, including industry giants like Ubisoft, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Square Enix, Roblox, and NCSoft, have begun to include this new technology in their production lines.
Activision, for instance, announced earlier this year that they would use AI to monitor chat in Call of Duty games, aiming to combat toxic behavior. Riot Games' mistake serves as a stark reminder that it’s easy to fall under the hammer of the gaming communities worldwide. Gamers never sleep, so there’s no room for mistakes!
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