Square Enix Plans Aggressive Use of AI in Game Development

According to Decrypt, Square Enix, the publisher of the Final Fantasy game series, plans to aggressively use artificial intelligence (AI) in its game development process. In an annual letter published on Monday, company President Takashi Kiryu stated that generative AI has the potential to reshape the creation process and fundamentally change programming. Kiryu, who took over as president in June 2023, aims to promote the shift to digital as gamers continue to move away from physical discs and cartridges. He also mentioned that AI would be used to increase game development productivity and applied to marketing efforts in the short term. Kiryu sees AI as a long-term tool that could create new forms of content for the company's business. While Square Enix's focus on AI does not mean it is abandoning its crypto gaming or Web3 efforts, blockchain, cloud gaming, and AI were all focus areas for the studio in 2023. The company plans to undergo changes to its organizational structure to continue research and development in these areas. However, generative AI remains a controversial topic in the gaming industry, with concerns that it could cost jobs. Square Enix released its first original, NFT-optional Ethereum story art game, Symbiogenesis, for web browsers in December, and its NFT character avatars have since traded for thousands of dollars.