James Pond creator slams new collection over alleged AI-generated art
Chris Sorrell, creator of the 1990s James Pond platformer series, has harshly criticized the upcoming James Pond Legacy: The Pond Is Not Enough collection after fans accused it of featuring AI-generated artwork. Sorrell said he sees no respect for the franchise in how it was handled.
Developer System 3 announced James Pond Legacy: The Pond Is Not Enough last week, a collection bundling versions of four James Pond games originally released on the Amiga, Genesis, Commodore 64 and SNES. The reveal trailer was quickly met with skepticism online, as many fans believed the new artwork looked AI-generated.
The controversy deepened when System 3's own blog post, which defended the collection's visuals as the product of a "painstaking, human-led process," appeared to itself contain generative AI imagery.
A sharp response from the creator
Series creator Chris Sorrell said he hopes the developers "choke on an AI-generated fishbone." He revealed he was never consulted or involved in putting together the "legacy" collection, noting that such involvement would have required someone on the team to have at least a scrap of respect for James Pond — something he says every action by the developers contradicts.
Sorrell acknowledged that he no longer owns the rights to James Pond and therefore has no say in how the series is presented. The franchise is currently shared between System 3 and Gameware Europe, the latter having already announced its own, seemingly AI-generated, James Pond sequel in 2025.
According to available reports, the new artwork appears limited to the collection's menus and box art, but it stands out awkwardly against the games' original 2D characters and backgrounds. Sorrell described the collection not as a respectful repackaging of the series, but as another example of what he called soulless businessmen exploiting a brand for decades.
