Nexon is facing a backlash from The First Descendant community over promotional videos appearing on TikTok that players believe were generated by artificial intelligence. Reddit users cited giveaways in the clips, including halting speech inflection and repeated phrasing, and questioned whether real influencers were involved at all.
In a statement published on Twitter, the publisher acknowledged the controversy surrounding Season 3: Breakthrough ads. According to Nexon, the disputed footage came from TikTok’s Creative Challenge, a program that invites creators to submit short-form ads in exchange for possible promotion. The company emphasized that each submission is automatically screened by TikTok for copyright infringement before approval, but conceded that some entries show irregularities in production.
A joint investigation with TikTok is now underway to determine who made the questionable content and whether deepfake tools were used. Regardless of the outcome, the incident is already resonating across Reddit and social platforms as players debate the wider implications of AI in future looter-shooter marketing.
