Final Fantasy game publisher Square Enix plans an “aggressive” use of artificial intelligence (AI) this year and into the future, according to the annual letter from company president Takashi Kiryu, published Monday.
“I believe that generative AI not only has the potential to reshape what we create, but also to fundamentally change the processes by which we create, including programming,” Kiryu wrote.
The publisher’s president stepped into his role in June 2023 and plans to “drive the shift to digital” as gamers have largely moved away from physical discs and cartridges – and will likely continue to do so. keep doing this.
“We also plan to be aggressive in applying AI and other advanced technologies to both our content development and publishing functions,” Kiryu said, adding that AI will be used to increase the productivity of game development and will be applied on “marketing efforts” in the future. short-term.
But Kiryu doesn’t see AI as a passing fad. In the long term, the executive said AI could be used to “create new forms of content” for his company.
However, Square Enix’s AI ambitions don’t mean it should necessarily abandon its crypto gaming or “Web3” efforts entirely. Such topics have been important topics of discussion previous annual letters from the presidentalbeit under previous company chairman Yosuke Matsuda.
Kiryu stated that blockchain, cloud gaming and AI were all areas of focus for the studio in 2023, and that the company will undergo changes to its ‘organizational structure’ to continue research and development in these areas. It is unclear whether such changes could lead to layoffs, or whether staff could simply be transferred to new teams.
However, generative AI is one controversial topic in the gaming industry. Smaller blockchain gaming teams are working on it Parallel and the Universe have praised and joined the potential of generative AI giants like Microsoft who see it as a tool that developers can use to make games better and faster. But Microsoft’s announcement of a generative AI tool for Xbox was received widespread backlash of concerned talent, who fear that the new technology could cost them their jobs. Such concerns are not unfoundedor.
Given that blockchain isn’t mentioned anywhere else in Square Enix’s letter, AI may be the studio’s dominant focus area for emerging technology by 2024.
Square Enix has released its first original, NFT-optional Ethereum story art game, Symbiogenesis, for web browsers in December. The NFT character avatars have since traded for thousands of dollars, with bizarre names like ‘Spice’ and ‘Trash’.
The game is designed to offer players quests within a single main storyline in a 2D world, and the Ethereum NFT collection has traded around 87 ETH ($204,000) in total to date.
Square Enix did not immediately respond Declutter‘s request for comment.
Edited by Andrew Hayward