Fans were initially excited when Square Enix announced Foamstars for PlayStation 5 since it looked like an interesting take on Nintendo’s Splatoon, but with foam. However, some of that excitement has gone away, as Square Enix has confirmed that AI art was used in the game, albeit, in a small way.
VGC spoke with Foamstars producer Kosuke Okatani and asked if AI was used in any part of this multiplayer shooter. Okatani was pretty honest, as he confirmed that the company did use AI to make some of the game’s icons and music album covers. The producer did say most of the game’s art and mechanics were handled by real people, but they wanted to experiment with AI.
“All of the core elements in Foamstars – the core gameplay, and the things that make the game enjoyable – those are all made by hand,” Okatani said. “However, we did want to experiment with AI as well.“In terms of the content in the game, this makes up about 0.01% or even less, but we have dabbled in it by creating these icons in the game.”
While there are fans who are disappointed, this isn’t exactly a surprise to hear from Square Enix, who constantly make decisions like this. The company previously announced an interest in AI, so seeing that come to fruition here is expected, but disappointing. Square Enix is also still on the burning NFT bandwagon but we think that might be coming to an end soon.
Unfortunately, Foamstars isn’t the only multiplayer shooter to experiment with AI technology. Last year’s surprise hit The Finals used AI for the game’s voices, with the devs trying to claim that hiring voice actors was too expensive. Numerous shooter fans are enjoying The Finals regardless, but it’s the start of something depressing.
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Foamstars is scheduled for release sometime this year for the PS5 and PS4. Hopefully, Okatani can be trusted and AI was used minimally, but we’ll have to wait and see.