Square Enix Reveals Use of AI-Generated Assets in Foamstars

Square Enix has officially confirmed the incorporation of AI-generated art in its upcoming online shooter, Foamstars. According to a report by VGC, Kosuke Okatani, the producer of Foamstars, disclosed that the development team leveraged the Midjourney generative AI tool to create art from text descriptions. Okatani emphasized that while the core elements of the game, including its gameplay and enjoyable features, were crafted by hand, the team also experimented with AI. The AI-generated content constitutes a minimal portion of the game, approximately 0.01% or less, and is specifically used for in-game icons, such as album covers. Square Enix clarified that the AI-generated art was used for album covers featured in the game. The publisher stated, 'As developers, we continually explore new technologies to determine how they can aid in game development. In this instance, we experimented with Midjourney using simple prompts to produce abstract images. We were pleased with the results and utilized them as the final album covers that players will see in the game. All other aspects of the game were created entirely by our development team.' Earlier this month, Square Enix expressed its intention to investigate the potential of generative AI in internal game development. Company president Takashi Kiryu noted, 'I believe that generative AI has the potential not only to transform what we create but also to fundamentally alter the processes by which we create, including programming.'