Square Enix president believes “aggressive” approach to AI will improve game development
Here we go again
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Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu has already ruffled feathers in the new year by reaffirming a desire for the company to utilize AI technology in itsupcoming gamesand projects.
In the annualNew Year’s Letter from the President, Kiryu expressed that the company intends “to be aggressive in applying AI and other cutting-edge technologies to both our content development and our publishing functions.
“In the short term, our goal will be to enhance our development productivity and achieve greater sophistication in our marketing efforts. In the longer term, we hope to leverage those technologies to create new forms of content for consumers, as we believe that technological innovation represents business opportunities.”
Kiryu also speaks highly of technologies likeChatGPT, which, in his words, “made it apparent that the applicability of generative AI was by no means limited to text, and the subsequent months saw a quick succession of launches of new services and content that expanded generative AI into a variety of domains with close ties to digital entertainment, including images, video, and music.”
It’s worth noting that Kiryu was not specific in how exactly Square Enix will leverage AI technology in its upcoming titles, among those being the highly anticipatedFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth.He also avoids mentioning that generative AI platforms are suspected of training on data created by writers and artists without their permission. Incidentally, this is the focus ofan ongoing lawsuitagainst platforms like Midjourney and Stability.
Of course, artificial intelligence has always been a staple of the medium when it comes to the more technical side of things. It’s how we even have NPCs to fight against in single-player games. It has more recently been helpfully used in tech likeNvidiaDLSS, which leverages AI to improve resolution and frame rate at a negligible hit to overall game performance.
It’s the mention of using generative AI for “images, video, and music,” as Kiryu highlights, that hasfolks on social mediaconcerned. Last year, Square Enix also worked on projects involvingFinal Fantasy 7NFT trading cardsand plans for ablockchain-based RPG; neither of which went down particularly well with the company’s fan base.
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With the new year upon us, you may be looking at a whole new list of games to play. Our guides to thebest PS5 gamesandbest Nintendo Switch gamesare here to help you make your choices.
Rhys is TRG’s Hardware Editor, and has been part of the TechRadar team for more than two years. Particularly passionate about high-quality third-party controllers and headsets, as well as the latest and greatest in fight sticks and VR, Rhys strives to provide easy-to-read, informative coverage on gaming hardware of all kinds. As for the games themselves, Rhys is especially keen on fighting and racing games, as well as soulslikes and RPGs.
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