Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu has uttered the two letters that will instantly scare gamers around the world in his New Year’s letter—AI. The company is set to look into implementing the technology “aggressively” over the coming months ahead of a number of big releases.
Square Enix plans to take advantage of this technology going forward into 2024 for multiple purposes according to Kiryu’s letter, including but not limited to advertising and the creation of content for consumers. The boss went as far as to say they will be “aggressively applying” the technology, so don’t be shocked to see it used in the coming months or even weeks.
Previously Square Enix made it clear that they weren’t afraid to use AI, utilizing the tool to enhance facial animations for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. We’d expect to see more of this in the Square Enix development process going forward. In the eyes of Kiryu, as stated in his letter, AI could change how games are made even from a programming perspective.
Ultimately this shouldn’t come as any shock given the way that AI technology is being embraced in business including the gaming industry, but it continues to be a topic of debate in the community. Back in November Xbox struck a partnership with Inworld that will allow its developers to use AI tech for creating quests, characters, and even dialogue inside its games. When it comes to fruition, this partnership looks to be one of the biggest implementations of AI in gaming so far.
Given the scope of AI, we’ve seen several implementations with different responses from fans in recent times. Some like THE FINALS’ choice to include AI-generated commentary have been slammed, while others like Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s AI animation enhancements have been embraced.
Ultimately it remains to be seen how Square Enix plans to implement AI in its game production and hopefully, it doesn’t have any negative impacts on product quality or job stability at the studio.
