Card game developer says it paid an 'AI artist' $90,000 to generate card art because "no one comes close to the quality"

[Gamernyc78]

Card game developer says it paid an 'AI artist' $90,000 to generate card art because 'no one comes close to the quality he delivers'

"For us to get this with a team of traditional artists it would cost us a lot more money, and time," the developer told us.

www.pcgamer.com

According to Champions TCG co-founder and CEO Miles Malec, who spoke to PC Gamer over DM, the artist has made over 1,000 images with generative AI over the course of six months, and was paid $15K each month. The anonymous artist "has 15 years of digital art experience" and doesn't use social media, he says.

"For us to get this with a team of traditional artists it would cost us a lot more money, and time," said Malec. "The guy's a pro and he charges what he's worth. We are well connected in the space and no one comes close to the quality he delivers."

According to Malec, Champions has made "about $500K" in card sales so far. Its raison d'etre is that its cards are NFTs which can be traded or purchased with cryptocurrency, but the developer also sells "gems"—which can be traded in for card packs—in exchange for regular US dollars, and those credit card transactions are where most of the revenue has come from so far.

The card images aren't quite "100%" AI generated, as the X post says. Malec says they're also touched up by hand: "AI can do bulk of the work/initial generating but to make sure no errors, extra fingers, etc everything needs to be edited and filtered."

The full collection of Champions cards can be viewed on its website. The illustrations run into occasional trouble with claws and paws, and each looks more or less like something you've seen before—some uncannily so—but they're passable. Someone who didn't know they were AI generated might think they were just generic Blizzard or Riot-inspired cards.

The game's official X account has been defending the card images today. Responding to a user who said that a kindergartener could do what their AI prompt guy does, the Champions account said that "ignoring the skill and talent it takes is insane."

I'm personally struggling to believe that anyone would pay $1,500 an hour for this work, whether or not it requires skill and talent, but that aside, I think the big picture is that we've rapidly passed the theoretical phase of generative AI's effect on games into the 'it's happening now' phase. AI generated images have also appeared in marketing material from major game publishers, including Magic: The Gathering maker Wizards of the Coast, but unlike some of those companies, the Champions developer is anything but apologetic about its use of a tool that many consider unethical.

Instead, the company challenged artists to complete a series of "art tests" in 48 hours, claiming that anyone who can match the quality of its AI prompt writer will be considered for a job as their assistant.

 

[Yurinka]

If true, "15,000 USD per month for exactly 10 hours of work" is a lot of money.

 

[Gamernyc78]

AI going to be used alot more in the future.

 

[TubzGaming]

 

[quest4441]

All art degree majors shaking in their boots, well if AI can bring down the scam that is college education I am all for it. College degrees should only be for the engineering, science and medical fields where you actually learn something. Even b-school is a scam

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

All art degree majors shaking in their boots, well if AI can bring down the scam that is college education I am all for it. College degrees should only be for the engineering, science and medical fields where you actually learn something. Even b-school is a scam

Nowadays, even for engineering and science ......

 

[quest4441]

Nowadays, even for engineering and science ......

Hmm the undergraduate level is toast, I am more so talking about the graduate level science and engineering programs. You are better off getting an undergrad in engineering in Asia and then going back to the states for a masters or phd

 

[Yobo]

All art degree majors shaking in their boots, well if AI can bring down the scam that is college education I am all for it. College degrees should only be for the engineering, science and medical fields where you actually learn something. Even b-school is a scam

Lmao if you think AI won't be replacing engineering, science and medical jobs too

 

[quest4441]

Lmao if you think AI won't be replacing engineering, science and medical jobs too

ofc AI will replace the mundane tasks and designing will become easier but what you are imagining is an AGI not AI, that shit is beyond our reach for at least a century, we need room temperature superconductivity which leads to actual quantum computing being possible before we ever get anywhere near AI making scientific discoveries in physics and then coming up with engineering solutions based on them

 

[Yobo]

ofc AI will replace the mundane tasks and designing will become easier but what you are imagining is an AGI not AI, that shit is beyond our reach for at least a century, we need room temperature superconductivity which leads to actual quantum computing being possible before we ever get anywhere near AI making scientific discoveries in physics and then coming up with engineering solutions based on them

We aren't talking about advanced mathematics from the best in the field. Quantum isn't needed until we are talking about well beyond human capability. Most scientists are just testing hypothesis until they get a conclusion, which AI will do faster. Most medicine is regurgitating known medical facts, identifying medical issues... Things AI will do better. Robotics will do a better job of surgeries. Engineering will be better done by AI and software engineering jobs are going to be among the first to go

Quantum computing is also not 100 years away. China already has one. They are huge and impractical right now and maybe never will be fit for personal use but companies and governments will have them in the near future and quantum computing will be available through the cloud for the rest of us

 

[ethomaz]

That is a a hell of expensive for little work.
$15k for 10 hours work lol

And to be fair the quality is very generic.