Updated
Updated · Kotaku · Aug 18
Neverness to Everness 1.3 Ships With Doubao AI Watermark on Seahorse Asset
Updated
Updated · Kotaku · Aug 18

Neverness to Everness 1.3 Ships With Doubao AI Watermark on Seahorse Asset

2 articles · Updated · Kotaku · Aug 18

Summary

  • A seahorse image in Neverness to Everness’s 1.3 update, released Aug. 12 in China, appears with a visible Doubao AI watermark, exposing it as AI-generated.
  • Bilibili users spotted the mark before the global rollout on Aug. 19, because the game’s China updates arrive about a week earlier than international releases.
  • The incident is the third genAI controversy for Hotta Games in 2026 and comes less than four months after the studio said the game was “built on human creativity.”
  • Hotta previously said AI-assisted tools were used only for a small number of background and environmental assets, not for characters or story elements.

Insights

With the global launch hours away, will international players uncover even more hidden AI watermarks in the massive new update?
As massive new worlds are added, how much of this visually stunning game is actually secretly built by machines?
Did developers intentionally leave a free chatbot watermark as a bizarre easter egg, or is their quality control completely broken?