Foamstars is a new four-vs-four party shooter from Square Enix. While the Splatoon-esque focus on foam across the battlefield should have been what prompted the most discussion before launch, talk has instead devolved the title’s prospective AI use.
Square Enix hasn’t been shy about its intentions to apply AI to its development processes. In the New Year’s Letter posted by Square Enix’s president Takashi Kiryu at the start of January, he stated the company would be “aggressive in applying” AI and other cutting-edge technologies to both its content development and publishing functions.
With Foamstars being its first release of 2024, players have wondered whether it would become an example of this new direction.
Does Foamstars use AI?
Yes, Foamstars utilized the AI art creation tool Midjourney to produce assets used for in-game album covers. This was confirmed by Foamstars producer Kosuke Okatani at a press event for the game, as reported by Video Games Chronicle.
As he went on to clarify, this usage of the tool accounts for only about “0.01 percent or even less” of the content in Foamstars. The usage of AI here was an experiment on Square Enix’s end to see the potential functionality of the tool, rather than it seeing widespread usage throughout the game’s development.
However, no matter how minor its impact, it doesn’t change the fact Foamstars uses AI—something that is a dealbreaker for a large portion of players and creators.
The game already struggled to attract attention when it was revealed, but the confirmation it used AI in its development killed the interest of many who had been willing to give Foamstars an honest shot when it launched on PlayStation on Feb. 6.
