Foamstars, a new four-vs-four party shooter from Square Enix, was expected to generate buzz primarily due to its Splatoon-esque focus on foam across the battlefield. However, discussions surrounding the game before its launch have shifted towards its potential use of AI.
Square Enix has openly expressed its intentions to incorporate AI into its development processes. In a New Year’s Letter published by Square Enix’s president Takashi Kiryu at the beginning of January, he emphasized the company’s commitment to aggressively apply AI and other cutting-edge technologies to both content development and publishing functions.
Does Foamstars use AI?
Indeed, Foamstars employed the AI art creation tool Midjourney to generate assets used for in-game album covers. Foamstars producer Kosuke Okatani confirmed this during a press event for the game, as reported by Video Games Chronicle.
However, Okatani clarified that this use of the tool represents only about “0.01 percent or even less” of the content in Foamstars. The utilization of AI in this instance was an experiment conducted by Square Enix to explore the potential functionality of the tool, rather than being extensively integrated into the game’s development process.
Despite its minimal impact, the revelation that Foamstars incorporates AI is a significant consideration for many players and creators.
Although the game initially struggled to attract attention upon its reveal, the confirmation of AI usage in its development has deterred the interest of numerous individuals who were initially open to giving Foamstars a chance upon its PlayStation launch on Feb. 6.
