Following dissatisfaction over the use of AI-generated content in Hotel Barcelona and its subsequent removal last November, writer and director Hidetaka “Swery/Swery65” Suehiro has confirmed that the game no longer contains any trace of the technology. The announcement follows the release of the massive Under New Management update, which makes big changes to gameplay and adds several quality-of-life and performance improvements.
When Hotel Barcelona launched on September 26, 2025, players started speculating that the game’s New Game + VHS tapes contained footage that featured AI-generated audio and images. These rumors were confirmed on October 1 via an official statement from publisher Cult Games. The VHS tapes themselves contained some voice-overs that were generated using a text-to-speech AI service. Likewise, the Red Tree Entertainment logo at the start of each tape was edited and refined using Photoshop Generative AI. While no stock footage was AI-generated, it was disheartening for fans to learn that it was Swery himself who created and edited the VHS tapes.
Cult Games and developer While Owls Inc. promised to disclose the use of AI-generated content while they worked on an update that removed these elements from the game, with the publisher confirming they are opposed to their use in any capacity.
True to their word, the VHS update, released on November 18, replaced all of the AI-generated content with that of actual humans. The voiceovers were re-recorded, edited, and developed alongside While Owls Inc., and the Red Tree Entertainment logo was redone by Cult Games’ in-house artist Nanna. To reflect the changes, Hotel Barcelona’s digital store pages no longer have any AI-generated content disclosures.
Likely to address lingering rumors, Swery has taken to personally reiterating that Hotel Barcelona is now AI-free, to the relief of his fans. Those who were on the fence about the game are considering it, while those who own a copy but decided not to play due to the aforementioned content have expressed renewed interest.
Hotel Barcelona is available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows (Steam).
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