Summary
Spiel Essen, the world’s biggest board game fair, has stopped using AI generated images to market its 2023 event. Publishers, artists and players took to social media and forums to condemn Spiel’S decision to use AI art last year. The images drew scorn for their inclusion of widely-criticised AI art tics.
Essen Spiel is one of the first publishers to say they will not use AI art in their games. Artist Joan Guardiet, the artist for board game The White Castle, is currently working on a board game artist manifesto focused on challenging the use of Gen AI within the industry.
Wingspan and Scythe publisher Stonemaier Games came out strongly against using AI in creative work. A month earlier Awaken Realms took down AI-generated promotional images for its Puerto Rico 1897 crowdfunding campaign. This year’s Spiel Essen will run between October 3 and October 6 at the Messe Essen exhibition centre in Germany.
