Finding a new and inventive way to annoy everybody, Activision has company use AI to generate fake advertisements for games that don't exist

An AI-generated image, posted to Activision's socials, of a fake Crash Bandicoot game that doesn't actually exist. — (Image credit: Activision / Geeklab)

Activision, which has recently fully doubled-down on using AI slop art assets in its games, has also coincidentally invented a new and bespoke way to annoy you for seemingly precious little gain.

Picture this: You see an advertisement for a new game from a trusted developer. You think hey, that looks interesting, let me give it an install. Then, like the world's most irritating and harmless bear trap, a market research firm pulls back the rug and says haha, you fool, you absolute moron, that wasn't a real game.

That is, in essence, what is happening—including with the purported Guitar Hero Mobile advertisement that made the rounds on Instagram for its shoddy AI-generated artwork. Turns out no, there isn't a Guitar Hero Mobile game, it's just a devious scheme to get you to do a survey.

Other non-games advertised by the big A include (thanks, Eurogamer) such industry-shaking concepts as "Call of Duty: Zombie Defender", "Call of Duty: Sniper", and "Crash Bandicoot Brawl" Here's the artwork for the very latter, by the way, which features such iconic Crash Bandicoot characters as Crash Bandicoot, another Crash Bandicoot, a third Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot with Googly Eyes, and Mutant Squirrel with Palm Leaf Growth.

A fake, AI-generated advertisement for a mobile game that doesn't exist called Crash Bandicoot Brawl. — (Image credit: Activision / Geeklab)

Clicking on any of these leads you to a spoof store page with more AI-generated garbage, including fake review scores, downloads, and age ratings. Click "install", and Geeklab finally gives up the charade, writing: "Thanks for your interest! This isn't a real game, but [it] could be some day! We'd love if you could answer this short survey, which could help inform the potential future of this game. Your feedback really matters to us!"

Just out of curiosity, I decided to fill one of these out. First off, Geeklab has the gall to ask me what made me click on the advertisement—well, I'm not a journalist, but I think the layman might've been tricked by your fake store page. Answers include such valuable data as "the colors" and "the characters", which presumably will give Activision such vital data as, uh, people like colours and Crash Bandicoot.

After answering if I play mobile games often (I don't) or if I've played any of the Activision mobile games that actually exist (I haven't), we get to the real meat of this market research. In theory, this whole shebang could inform Activision what types of games they're hungry for—a sort of gently coerced brainstorming session. Still annoying, but I can see the objective at least.

Except, when I'm asked "based on the advertisement what would you expect the game to be?" The answers are pretty much useless. If I were a suit at Activision, and the market research firm I'd paid just told me my userbase expects my games to be 'High Quality, Interesting, and Exciting', I might very well throw them out the window.

A series of nondescript question answers about a hypothetical mobile game. — (Image credit: Geeklab)

Lastly, Geeklab wants you to tell Activision why you play mobile games. I chose "to escape from my day to day", because I currently have a nasty bronchial cough and it's the most honest answer I could give them. My reward? A random confetti spray of explosion, rainbow, and party emojis.

I cannot fathom… well, several things about the decisions that were made to get up to this point. I do understand that data is incredibly valuable in our digital age, sure—but, like a lot of AI-generated nonsense that's made its way into gaming as of late, I can't help but wonder whether the value generated by this info is worth pissing everybody off.

These adverts, in isolation, make Activision look like it's becoming an AI-generated slop company, churning out mobile game after mobile game—and even if someone gets hoodwinked into wanting to play one of these things, they'll be left with a sour taste in their mouth as a survey gets shoved in their face. But hey, at least Activision knows I wanted to escape to the world of three Crash Bandicoots and his melty-faced friends.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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