{"id":60506,"date":"2026-02-25T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=60506"},"modified":"2026-02-25T17:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:01:32","slug":"mobile-game-developer-denies-gen-ai-use-after-ai-tool-watermark-shows-up-on-official-promo-artwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/mobile-game-developer-denies-gen-ai-use-after-ai-tool-watermark-shows-up-on-official-promo-artwork\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile game developer denies gen AI use after\u00a0AI tool watermark\u00a0shows up on\u00a0official\u00a0promo artwork\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Dot Hero<\/strong>, or Dot&nbsp;Yuusha&nbsp;as its known in Japan, is a&nbsp;major&nbsp;mobile RPG by China-based developer&nbsp;Efun. Recently, the game\u2019s official X account issued a statement and apology addressed to Japanese players related to alleged use of generative AI&nbsp;in its promotional artwork.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The controversy started last week, when Dot Hero announced an in-game collaboration event\u00a0with the major\u00a0anime franchise Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.\u00a0A now\u00a0deleted\u00a0X\u00a0teaser\u00a0image\u00a0(featuring silhouettes of Code Geass characters)\u00a0allegedly included a faint watermark\u00a0left by\u00a0an AI tool, which sparked criticism.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0not possible to verify this with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/dot_yuusha\/status\/2022234298405847127\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">original\u00a0post<\/a>\u00a0gone,\u00a0but several users have\u00a0since\u00a0posted screenshots of the image (seen in the embedded post below), and Dot Hero\u2019s\u00a0subsequent\u00a0statement has acknowledged\u00a0the existence of a watermark.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u753b\u50cf\u3092\u62e1\u5927\u3059\u308b\u30682\u679a\u76ee\u306e\u753b\u50cf\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306bAI\u751f\u6210\u3068\u3057\u3063\u304b\u308a\u8a18\u8f09\u3055\u308c\u3066\u308b\u3093\u3067\u3059\u304c\uff1f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u6ozsJ00V8\">pic.twitter.com\/u6ozsJ00V8<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u3084\u3070\u3044\u3084\u3064 (@Heito167745) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Heito167745\/status\/2024838165077606559?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 20, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation worsened a couple\u00a0days\u00a0later, when Dot\u00a0Hero\u00a0revealed promotional artwork of Code Geass characters Lelouch and Suzaku as\u00a0the collaboration event drew closer. Users found the art\u00a0strikingly\u00a0similar to\u00a0character sprites used in Code Geass:\u00a0Genesic\u00a0Re;Code, a licensed Code Geass mobile game\u00a0by Japanese developer JORO\u00a0that ended services back in 2021.\u00a0Due to the\u00a0previous\u00a0AI watermark incident, people started\u00a0speculating\u00a0that AI might have been used to\u00a0modify\u00a0Genesic\u00a0Re;Code\u2019s\u00a0art for Dot\u00a0Hero\u2019s promotional images (side-by-side comparison below).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u3082\u3057\u304b\u3057\u3066\u3001AI\u751f\u6210\u3067\u3059\u304b\uff1f<br>6\u65e5\u524d\u306e\u30b3\u30e9\u30dc\u89e3\u7981\u30c4\u30a4\u30fc\u30c8\u306b\u3046\u3063\u3059\u3089\u3068AI\u751f\u6210\u3063\u3066\u66f8\u3044\u3066\u3042\u3063\u305f\u306e\u304c\u305a\u3063\u3068\u5f15\u3063\u304b\u304b\u3063\u3066\u3044\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3059\u304c\u30a4\u30e9\u30b9\u30c8\u3092\u898b\u3066\u7591\u308f\u3056\u308b\u3092\u5f97\u306a\u304f\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/haCSg9RFRc\">https:\/\/t.co\/haCSg9RFRc<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KUeUE6aTUi\">pic.twitter.com\/KUeUE6aTUi<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u30ca\u30a4\u30c8\u30aa\u30d6\u30a4\u30ec\u30f4\u30f3 (@nacat22525) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nacat22525\/status\/2024428864701944062?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 19, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dot&nbsp;Hero\u2019s&nbsp;developers&nbsp;addressed the backlash on February 20,&nbsp;stating&nbsp;that&nbsp;they&nbsp;had launched an&nbsp;internal&nbsp;investigation&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;the image, but&nbsp;determined&nbsp;that \u201cno AI generation was used in the creation of the illustration&nbsp;whatsoever\u201d and that \u201cit was entirely hand-drawn&nbsp;by the creators.\u201d&nbsp;On the other hand, they explain that the&nbsp;AI tool watermark ended up in the teaser image during&nbsp;post-editing, when text layers were added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe sincerely apologize for the significant inconvenience and concern caused to all supporters of Dot Hero and \u201cCode Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, as well as to the copyright holders and all other parties involved, due to our insufficient&nbsp;asset&nbsp;management and verification processes,\u201d&nbsp;Efun&nbsp;wrote, promising to&nbsp;tighten up its internal procedures.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However,&nbsp;from the looks of it,&nbsp;Japanese users&nbsp;aren&#8217;t&nbsp;very keen on accepting&nbsp;the explanation of the AI&nbsp;watermark nor the apology, especially given that the resemblance&nbsp;of&nbsp;Dot&nbsp;Hero\u2019s Suzaku art to that of Code Geass:&nbsp;Genesic&nbsp;Re;Code\u2019s&nbsp;existing&nbsp;character sprite&nbsp;has not been addressed.&nbsp;Since the developers have not confirmed that they re-used\/modified&nbsp;the original art with permission for the new event&nbsp;(instead claiming it was fully hand-drawn)&nbsp;this&nbsp;has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nacat22525\/status\/2024862721599238617?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fueled further suspicion<\/a>&nbsp;of plagiarism&nbsp;and\/or&nbsp;tracing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/stellar-blade-director-says-using-ai-will-be-essential-for-competing-with-overwhelming-manpower-of-china-and-us-developers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Stellar Blade director says using AI will be essential for competing with\u00a0overwhelming\u00a0manpower\u00a0of China and US developers\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"89-of-japanese-artists-consider-generative-ai-a-serious-threat-to-their-livelihood-large-scale-survey-shows\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/89-of-japanese-artists-consider-generative-ai-a-serious-threat-to-their-livelihood-large-scale-survey-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">89% of Japanese artists consider generative AI \u201ca serious threat\u201d to their livelihood, large-scale survey shows\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The developer of Dot Hero (Dot Yuusha) has issued an apology to Japanese players following controversy over alleged generative AI use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":60510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,17],"class_list":["post-60506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ai","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mobile game developer denies gen AI use after\u00a0AI tool watermark\u00a0shows up on\u00a0official\u00a0promo artwork\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The developer of Dot Hero (Dot Yuusha) has issued an apology to Japanese players following controversy over alleged generative AI use.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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