Tim Bender
CEO, Hooded Horse
Co-founder and CEO of indie strategy-game publisher Hooded Horse (Manor Lords, Against the Storm), who wrote a no-generative-AI clause into the studio’s contracts and urges developers to keep AI out of their process entirely.
In his words
It is now written into our contracts, if we’re publishing the game: “No fucking AI assets.”
We recommend they don’t use any gen AI anywhere in the process.
Biography
Tim Bender is the co-founder and CEO of Hooded Horse, an independent video game publisher that rose quickly by championing deep strategy and simulation titles, including the breakout hits Manor Lords and Against the Storm and the historical 4X game Old World. Under Bender, the studio built a reputation for developer-friendly deals and a strong editorial identity.
A contractual line in the sand
In a 2026 interview, Bender revealed that Hooded Horse had written an explicit prohibition on generative-AI assets into its publishing contracts — bluntly phrased as “no fucking AI assets.” He went further, saying the company now advises the developers it works with to avoid gen AI anywhere in their process, even as a placeholder, warning that once it slips in it can quietly “infest” a final product. He described the technology as cancerous when it creeps into games unnoticed.
Bender’s stance puts a business — not just an artist — on record: a publisher willing to forgo work rather than ship AI-generated content, aligning with figures such as David Gaider who see AI as corrosive to game craft. It reflects a wider indie-industry conviction that a hand-made pledge is both an ethical and a marketing asset with players who increasingly distrust AI content.
Where they stand in the war
Who backs them up
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/tim-bender