Where we stand on AI, from our workshop to the games industry

AI is everywhere at the moment, and it feels like every business has been asked to pick a side. The games industry is no exception, and that's where most of our customers spend their time and money. I'd rather tell you where we actually stand, because you should get a straight answer from the people you buy from.

Here it is. AI can speed up a workflow. It shouldn't be used to make art, and it certainly shouldn't be a way of passing off other people's work as something new.

Where we do use it

I run Frame-A-Game personally and time is tight, so we've used AI to help with some of the copy on the site. Mostly that means getting a first draft down or smoothing out wording. Everything still gets read, edited and rewritten until it sounds like us and says what we mean.

We've also used it to polish some of our product images. Every frame on the site is a real one that we built by hand and photographed, and the AI touches up the shots so they look more professional. Backgrounds get tidied and the finish gets evened out. The frame itself is never altered, because a product photo is there to show you what you'll actually receive.

Where we don't

We don't use AI to create artwork and we never will. I've spent 20 years as a graphic designer in print and web, so I know how much time, practice and stubbornness goes into making something good. Generative AI models are trained on huge amounts of existing art, most of it made by people who were never asked and never paid. When one produces an image, it's stitching together pieces of that work. Calling the result original is a stretch, and calling it hard work is a bigger one.

Games and AI

Since we started, our sign-off has been "Gaming is an art and we believe you should show off the art you treasure the most." We mean it, and it's a big part of why this matters to us. Games are some of the most art-heavy things anyone makes. Concept artists, animators, writers, composers, voice actors and level designers all pour themselves into a single release, and that combined effort is why people care enough to buy a game, collect it and put it on a wall.

I'm not against studios using AI where it makes sense. At the ideation stage it can be handy: bashing out rough ideas, throwing names around, exploring a few directions for a mood board, drafting placeholder text, or getting through the repetitive admin that eats into a creative team's week. That clears the path and leaves more time for the work that matters.

The line, for me, is the final product. Once an idea has been explored, everything the player sees, hears and reads should be made by a person. Character designs, environments, script, soundtrack, box art. That's where the craft lives, and it's where players notice first when it's missing. A game can be technically impressive and still feel hollow if nobody with a point of view shaped it.

Studios that are open about how they use these tools, and keep real people at the centre of the finished game, earn a lot of goodwill. Players remember who treated them and the artists with respect, and they remember who didn't.

The honesty problem

What bothers me most is the dishonesty. Plenty of companies are putting out AI-generated artwork and presenting it as their own, and some will tell you outright that no AI was involved. It's usually easy to spot. There's a slightly waxy look to it, odd details that fall apart when you look closely, and a sense that nobody cared how it turned out. Collectors have sharp eyes. If you spend your spare time hunting down the perfect steelbook or cover art, you'll notice.

Passing that work off as human made is disingenuous, and it's an insult to the artists whose work was rehashed to produce it. They put years into their craft and deserve better than having it fed into a machine and handed back under someone else's name.

Why it matters for physical media

Physical media collecting is built on appreciation for craft. The artwork on a game case, the design of a steelbook, the care that goes into a special edition: people made all of it, and part of the joy of owning it is knowing that. It would be odd for us to sell frames that celebrate that work while cutting corners on our own.

So that's our position. We'll use AI for the boring bits and be upfront when we have, and we'll leave the art to the people who make it. We'd like to see the games industry do the same, with AI helping at the start and humans finishing the job. If our approach ever changes, you'll hear it from us first.

If you've got thoughts on this, or you're a collector who feels the same way, I'd like to hear from you. Drop us a message any time.

Kirk