Artificial intelligence in gaming is only poised to become more common and as Square Enix looks to implement the technology further, the company has confirmed it will show up in the upcoming party shooter Foamstars—causing a sharp drop in interest from gamers.
Foamstars producer Kosuke Okatini says the AI art creation tool Midjourney was used for some of the assets that can be seen in the game, as first reported by Video Game Chronicle on Jan. 16. This being the case, he says only 0.01 percent of the game’s visuals are made by AI so you probably won’t realize it unless you’re looking. Try telling that to fans, however.
“AI was used in the creation of the in-game album covers for the music featured in the Foamstars’ soundtrack,” a Square Enix spokesperson said to VGC, adding that developers are constantly on the lookout for new tech that can help boost their games in any way possible and ease the workload for studios involved.
Despite this implementation being minor, some interested parties who were planning to try out the game have turned off the upcoming title after hearing of its use of AI. Some claim that, while their interest was already minimal, now that the controversial technology is confirmed to be added, they won’t be trying out the title at all.
“You know, I was willing to give Foamstars an honest and good shot, but if [Square Enix] really put AI art into it, then the only shot the game has is the foot they shot of my chances wanting [to] play it,” one disgruntled gamer said. Others echoed this sentiment, stating Square Enix’s stance on AI and its use in Foamstars is “disappointing.”
Foamstars is set to launch on Feb. 6 bringing a new party shooter in the style of Nintendo’s hit Splatoon to the market. Given the reaction to this new development, it remains to be seen if the game can win back the potential players turned off by the use of AI.
Despite the backlash, it doesn’t seem likely that Square Enix will be changing its stance on AI given that as recently Jan. 1, company president Takashi Kiryu said that they would be “aggressively applying” AI technology going forward in 2024. This means Foamstars won’t be Square Enix’s last use of AI and likely won’t be the most substantial.
The growing use of this technology in gaming isn’t going to stop, but for the sake of gamers who don’t want to see it used in games, hopefully, its implementation can remain as minor as it is here in Foamstars.
