Nexon has acknowledged “irregularities” in a series of TikTok advertisements for The First Descendant after fans accused the company of producing the “low effort” marketing materials via AI.
It follows breaking news over the weekend in which Reddit user iHardlyTriHard collated four unusual advertisements after scrolling their For You Page for just 15 minutes. With all four exhibiting mismatched lip syncing, strange head movements, unnatural dialogue, and at least one that appears to use the likeness of content creator DanieltheDemon — although whether this was with or without permission, we don’t yet know — fans immediately began speculating that they’d been produced via AI.
It’s truly crazy to see the game the First Descendent not only steal content from a known content creator and used AI to promote their game. But they did ANOTHER ad using AI again to promote their game.
As I mentioned the other day, streamers need to be aware of this. pic.twitter.com/bqOUE1FGX5
— iamBrandon 🏳️🌈 (@iamBrandonTV) August 15, 2025
Nexon was quick to respond, although the developer’s statement spawns as many questions as it answers.
It said the ads came from a TikTok Creative Challenge for creators, “which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials.” And while “all submitted videos are verified through TikTok’s system to check copyright violations before they are approved as advertising content,” it has since identified “cases where the circumstances surrounding the production of certain submitted videos appear inappropriate” and launched an investigation.
Interestingly, the statement doesn’t apologize — the only time an apology appears, it’s due to the “delay in providing this notice” about the investigation, as it’s “taking longer than expected.” Nexon said that once “verification is complete,” it will share an update “through an official notice.”
Here’s the statement in full:
We would like to inform you of certain irregularities identified in the operation of our TikTok Creative Challenge for creators.
As a part of our marketing campaign for Season 3: Breakthrough, we recently ran a Creative Challenge program for TikTok creators, which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials.
All submitted videos are verified through TikTok’s system to check copyright violations before they are approved as advertising content.
However, we have become aware of cases where the circumstances surrounding the production of certain submitted videos appear inappropriate. Thus, we are conducting a thorough joint investigation with TikTok to determine the facts.
We sincerely apologize for the delay in providing this notice as the review is taking longer than expected. Once the verification is complete, we will promptly share an update through an official notice.Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Nexon is just the latest company to come under fire for generative AI usage. In June, The Alters developer 11 Bit Studios promised an update to both to replace the AI-generated content with handcrafted assets after fans discovered AI prompts in the game that had not been properly disclosed.
Jurassic World Evolution 3 developer Frontier Developments similarly had to walk back its use of generative AI characters portraits after widespread criticism, and Activision has been skewered repeatedly for its generative AI use, including recent examples of an ad for a Guitar Hero game that doesn’t exist, and some Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 assets.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.