Chinese conglomerate Tencent has launched the Hunyuan 3D engine globally, which aims to “empower creators” with “advanced” tools that allow users to make AI-generated 3D assets.
Announced today via a press release, the company’s pitch is that users can “instantly generate high-quality 3D assets” by using text descriptions, images, or sketches to feed the machine. Tencent says doing so “cuts production time from days or weeks to just minutes,” which the company says, in theory, helps to eliminate “the complexity of traditional workflows.”
All the while, throughout 2025 game developers have yet to warm up to generative AI, with some of them being more worried than ever that the use of the technology will lower the quality of games. Regarding workflows, developers have spoken at length about how no tool, AI or otherwise, can speed up game development if leaders don’t rise to the occasion.
The global launch of Hunyuan 3D also encompasses Tencent Cloud making the Hunyuan 3D Model API available to enterprises across the globe. On paper, this allows for “seamlessly” integrating 3D generation capabilities into not just game development, but also commerce promotion, special effects for filming, advertising, social media content creation, and so on.
As it stands, users can do up to 20 free generations daily, while enterprise users under the integration of the aforementioned API are set to receive 200 free credits, which can be used for generating assets as well.
Tencent says that more than 150 enterprises in Mainland China have done the API integration through Tencent Cloud, including Unity China, Bambu Lab, and Liblib.
Despite constant slip-ups and pushback, companies continue to tout the AI horn
Video game companies continue to not only acknowledge generative AI as a tool in consideration for development, but also place bets on it long-term. EA partnered with Stability AI to co-develop AI models, tools, and workflows it claims will empower its development teams to “reimagine how content is built.” Subnautica owner Krafton restated plans to become an “AI First” company in its latest fiscal report. Square Enix wants to use gen AI to “automate 70 percent of QA and debugging” by late 2027.
While the Nexon CEO says we should assume that every game company is now using AI, and Take-Two CEO personally predicts the technology will create jobs rather than kill them, cases of bad reputation and constant dialing back continue to pile up.
Here are some examples from the last six months alone: Frontier Developments backtracked on its decision to use gen AI in Jurassic World Evolution 3 after fan backlash. 11 Bit Studios, developers of The Alters, apologized for using AI-generated content in the game and not properly disclosing it on the Steam store page. Unity made a promise that its AI tools will have proper copyright “guardrails” by the time they become widely available, which came after an employee conjured Mickey Mouse on stream. A French actress took legal action against Aspyr Media over allegations of using AI to replicate Lara Croft’s voice performance in Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered without her permission. To Broken Sword co-creator Charles Cecil, AI upscaling was an “expensive mistake,” while Japanese game studios submitted a written request to OpenAI to demand the U.S. company stop using content made by them to train models such as Sora 2.
In August, leadership over at Microsoft-owned developer King, best known for the Candy Crush series, was reportedly deemed “AI skeptic” after a mandate by Microsoft to use the technology. This skepticism is now reaching new heights. Last week, U.S. congressman Ro Khanna denounced the alleged use of AI-generated imagery in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and demanded regulations to prevent companies from “using AI to eliminate jobs to extract greater profits.”
