EA Games was successful in digitally replicating over 11,000 footballers' likenesses for the long-awaited EA Sports College Football 25 thanks to generative AI.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, EA shared how the game development studio was able to secure players' likenesses because of a 2021 NCAA policy that allows players to sell their likenesses and brand.
EA Sports Cam Weber claimed that the studio prepared four years, a year ahead of the policy's passing when generative AI started gaining popularity in the tech industry.
It is worth noting that the AI technology used in the digital replication is far different from the image generation seen in DALL-E and similar products but rather a tool that allows users to create near-realistic 3D scans from multiple photo sets.
Weber also assured that replicating the players still involves actual human artists to correct the mistakes the AI made during the digital scanning process.
EA Games Spends Millions to Secure Footballers' Likenesses
Securing the players' likenesses alone cost EA over $7.7 million as the studio offered players $600 each, in addition to a free College Football 25 deluxe edition, to sell their likenesses to the company.
The WSJ estimated that the full game development expenses could go as high as $40 million, an amount EA Games aims to compensate through a $149.99 bundle for both Sports College Football 25 and Madden NFL 25.
EA Games Hints at Potential AI Use in Future Game Development
Despite the game still being at early access, EA Games is already confident in the success of College Football 25 as the development team looks to bring the same advancement and technology to future releases.
EA Games is the latest game developer to express plans for future game development after several other publishers like Square Enix and Ubisoft hinted at plans to leverage the technology for their bigger projects.
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