Neverness to Everness Developer Admits AI Usage After Backlash

The gacha game Neverness to Everness has become the center of a generative AI controversy after developer Hotta Studio admitted to using AI-assisted tools for certain in-game assets. The revelation triggered immediate community backlash and resulted in content creator Ironmouse pulling her sponsorship deal with the title.

According to TheGamer, the studio released a statement acknowledging that AI tools were used on "a small number of background and environmental assets, not on the characters or stories that define this game." The announcement came after nearly a week of complaints from players who discovered AI-generated content scattered throughout the game world.

The specific assets under fire include a poster titled "Clear Skies in Summer" — an almost one-to-one recreation of the Weathering with You movie poster — and an AI-generated cinematic for the Pink Paws Heist mission. Both have been removed from the game as of the latest patch.

Ironmouse, a Game Award-winning Content Creator of the Year, accused the studio of lying to her about AI usage before she agreed to the sponsorship. Voice actor Meggie-Elise also threatened to stop working on the project unless the issue was "addressed and removed."

The physical reality of these AI assets is what made them so jarring to players. One cutscene features a police car with twelve doors, many facing the wrong direction. Another shows a cat melting into a character's shoulder while clothing colors shift randomly. These aren't subtle imperfections — they're the kind of visual glitches that make your eyes physically ache when you try to watch them.

Hotta Studio's statement begins with a defensive framing: "Neverness to Everness is built on human creativity." The company promises it is "already reviewing and reworking" the flagged assets and asks players to "keep it coming" with feedback. (A problem that has plagued users for years, frankly.)

Community reaction remains divided. Some players celebrate the studio's willingness to address the issue, while others question why only two specific artworks were mentioned. Several commenters argue the studio is downplaying the scale of AI usage, pointing to additional suspicious content including advertisements circulating on social media platforms.

According to GoSugamers, the game launched on April 29, 2026, across mobile platforms, PC, PlayStation 5, and macOS. The controversy emerged shortly after release, with players discovering AI-generated billboards, magazine covers, and in-game movies throughout the open world.

The situation highlights a broader tension in the gacha industry. Hotta Studio has a history of controversial decisions, including asset reuse from previous titles like Tower of Fantasy. Critics argue this isn't an isolated mishap but indicative of a development process that prioritizes speed and cost-cutting over quality control.

Some defenders of the game argue the AI content is "insignificant" compared to the overall experience. Others note that even if you're pro-AI, the execution here was lazy — entire bookstores filled with low-effort AI art, train station billboards that look like fast food of artstyles, and animations that feel soulless.

The studio's response was relatively quick compared to industry standards, but talk is cheap. Gacha companies have a track record of issuing apologies for short-term cleanups before returning to business as usual once attention dies down. Whether Hotta Studio actually commits to long-term quality improvements remains to be seen.

Whether users actually pay for it remains the real question.

Artūras Malašauskas is an AI Systems Integrator with 20+ years of production-grade web engineering experience. He has designed, shipped, and scaled enterprise Python/PHP systems for logistics, SaaS, and public-sector clients. For the past year, he has focused exclusively on AI integrations: deploying open-source LLMs, building generative media pipelines (image, audio, video), and engineering multi-agent workflows for real production environments. His standard: reproducibility, security, cost-efficient inference—no vaporware. He documents and evaluates emerging AI tooling, separating verified capabilities from marketing noise. Technical editor at: muza-ai.eu, ai-verslas.lt, ai-naujinos.lt Connect on LinkedIn