Weighing In On the Jersey Jack Pinball Harry Potter AI Controversy
- Jason
- Jun 22
- 4 min read
Good morning everyone. I’m sitting here in my car during the longest ever lightning delay at my son’s high school lacrosse tournament. I decided that now was the time to address the elephant in the room, the AI art controversy on Jersey Jack Pinball’s Harry Potter pinball machine.
I had been holding off on talking about this until I was absolutely sure that AI was used in some aspects of the art of this game. Well, I’m pretty darn sure now.
Ironically, the thing that convinced me was actually Jersey Jack’s own doing. For years, while Ken Cromwell was with the company, Jersey Jack Pinball has provided me with game assets prior to the launch of its new pinball machines so that I can hit the ground running with a high quality article to talk about their new game. I am of the opinion that a manufacturer is always better off providing me with high res images than having thousands of potential customer seeing what images I could quickly cobble together off of their social media pages and crop from videos. There’s literally no risk in them doing so, I have never leaked anything that a company has given me early. Not once. I pride myself in keeping my word, to a fault.
After Ken left, I wondered whether I would still get those assets prior to Harry Potter’s launch, so I reached out to a high-level person at JJP and asked them to be included in the distribution of the launch pics if they were giving them to anyone. The launch day for the game finally came and I had been given nothing. So I quickly put together, which I believe was a good article on the game. As of this writing, my launch article for the game has just under 4,000 views, which is a lot on the world of pinball. Unfortunately, I was not given images directly from the Company so I grabbed what I could from its and distributors’ social media pages and the launch video. The images that I grabbed were not controlled by JJP.
Version control clearly became an issue for them. This is an image of a section of the game from my launch article:
There’s so many things wrong with with this dragon head that I would be absolutely shocked if it was not created using AI in some way.
Apparently, Pinball Magazine and Pinball News were given Harry Potter launch assets directly from Jersey Jack Pinball while I was not. Below is an image of the same dragon that someone on Pinside took from their article:
As you can see, a lot of the issues with the initial AI dragon image were fixed in JJP’s official launch photos for the game.
To me this clearly indicates that yes AI was used in some capacity in the creation of Harry Potter pinball’s art and that the Company was likely aware that it was. They specifically and intentionally changed this aspect of the art.
I was hoping that we would get a statement from JJP during its seminar at this weekend’s Southern Fried Gaming Expo. Someone did upload the hour plus talk about the game to YouTube. I have not had a chance to watch the entire thing yet, but I will and I embedded it below so you can as well. Word is that the AI issue was not addressed at all.
The Kineticist published an article on this subject on Friday. Kudos to Colin for his in-depth article on the subject. The most concerning thing to me on this subject are the complete denials that JJP’s founder Jack Guarnieri issued when asked directly whether AI was used in the art. I have included a link to that article below.
A lot of people have been messaging me, commenting on my posts and e-mailing me asking for me to address this subject. I am certainly no AI art expert, so my reply has been that I wanted to be sure that it was used on this game and that JJP denied it before writing anything about it. I’m pretty sure now that AI was used and that JJP is denying it.
I try to keep things on this website positive, so it pains me to write anything like this here but I also have integrity. I feel as though it is possible to do both. I don’t think that this AI issue would be enough to convince me personally not to buy an Arcade Edition of this game if I was a Harry Potter fan. From what I have seen and have heard from others who have played the game, it plays great. Clearly the designer Eric Meunier has a tremendous anount of passion for Harry Potter and he put every ounce of himself into the game. I think that despite this controversy, Harry Potter will end up being an excellent pinball machine.
That’s my two cents on the subject.
What’s Going on With JJP’s Harry Potter and the AI Art Controversy?
As a graphic designer by profession I understand that AI can be used as a tool to help get to the final product, but to let things out if the door poorly designed by AI is terrible.
It further pushes me to the Stern camp and makes me want to avoid JJP. Cutting corners is never the way to go. If they were this lazy how much more did they use AI to not only assist but to finalize the art work? Seems like they’re trying to cut salary and use AI.
Don't forget the other major controversy: Supporting JK Rowling.
Jason, without stirring up trouble for yourself could you use your credentials and contacts to get more out of Jack, Eric, or Jesper? It would be helpful to those of us who are concerned and possibly pausing our purchase decision to hear the full story. Enough people (professional artists included) know that A.I. was used, finished poorly, and shipped. This runs contrary to what Jack said. Personally, Jack’s answer isn’t good enough for me and my confidence is shaken. When and how will we get truthful answers?
Pinball is an artisan product and when you start taking artisans out of it, it will not be the same nor as engaging. Every aspect of the machine is artisan, from the design, engineering, art, and sound. The human touch is what makes pinball great. When you take that away, it becomes soulless.
I personally don't care if AI helped with artwork. If it looks like shit that's on JJP whether a human did it with or without the AI assist. I just hope its fun to play.