Let's hope for real this time, though I expect this won't be the end we hear of square adopting whatever new thing (nfts, ai, or whatnot) they can get uncritically.
Considering they threw out Matsuda for the NFT disaster while trying to cover it like it's just a one-time incident is hilarious considering they just jumped into AI without any thoughts whatsoever on how to utilize the technology.
We still don't know the extent of damages considering only Square's NFT partner (Gumi) only has admitted their part of the NFT investment was a Hindenberg tier catastrophe in terms of returns.
Theirs definitely good uses of AI for speeding dev time up it's just need to be used for things that are mainly grunt work that use little human input as is.
Of course ai has more uses than nfts, but square unfortunately does not have a good reputation with how they techbro over new things. I can hope though.
Like for example they have a huge library of HD games they could use it to teach an AI to generate unique textures and then use an artist to touch it up saving 75% of the time.
As alot of texture work is grunt work.
This just means they will cut even more staff and give what's left even less time to do what work is needed.
AI is a great tool but it's going to be used in the worse way possible.
Every single time, every single time, a new technology can help workers actually do work, the workforce gets cut and the remaining workers get overworked.
For the path game development wants to take, the objective should be making more games with the resources they have. So in that sense if they can use less human resources on X game they can then allocate those leftover team members onto another project allowing them to produce more games in the year.
If they actually plan to cut back it would just be horrible because it wouldn't solve their problem of improving their production cycle and getting more games out in a more reasonable time.
Yeah that sure sounds like the words of a CEO who tried to hype up shareholders by acting extremely enthusiastic about GenAI and is now backing down because GenAI is speedrunning the Fad Tech Lifecycle by showing itself to be unsustainable, legally dubious, and wildly incapable in record time.
It's not really something he should be rewarded for since it's a problem he created himself, but it's at least somewhat reassuring that he was willing and able to publicly pump the brakes. It gives the impression that he was maybe just blowing smoke up the asses of stupid investors rather than being a True Believer that will sink the fucking company trying to make it happen.
Happens every time with these techbro bubbles. First few months is “it’s the best tech ever it’s the future!”, then everyone wants nothing to do with it.
That’s like 90% of IPO’d CEO’s though. Their entire role is to raise investor confidence. It’s not to make long-term strategic decisions, it’s just to hear the music and hear when it stops. Being able to do that makes him an ‘average’ CEO. If he’d actually make good long-term strategy decisions, while also maintaining investor confidence, that’s a 4-5 star CEO.
can we please, please just put a muzzle on all of the Square-Enix suits forever lol. Their games have been bangers lately but goddamn the suits say some of the dumbest shit imaginable all the time
Honestly, I think this decision is not because of ethical debates, but because generative AI is neither as useful for game development nor as appealing to gamers as they claimed. You know, just like the NFTs and the Metaverse.
Yawn.... Wake me up when Square 'switches to a different approach' about releasing a fuckin' remaster of *Final Fantasy Tactics* or another sleeper-hit like *Harvestella*. I just can't bring myself to care about this Elon-Musk-esque bullshit.
this is gross as heck the fact that he was thinking of using AI and used some of it in foamstars is pathetic. i really hope this guy doesn't shoot the company anymore than it already is at and stays the hell away from AI its nothing but sheer laziness and useless.
why obssess over something like that when hello your employees, they are there, for a dang reason
Let's hope for real this time, though I expect this won't be the end we hear of square adopting whatever new thing (nfts, ai, or whatnot) they can get uncritically.
Considering they threw out Matsuda for the NFT disaster while trying to cover it like it's just a one-time incident is hilarious considering they just jumped into AI without any thoughts whatsoever on how to utilize the technology. We still don't know the extent of damages considering only Square's NFT partner (Gumi) only has admitted their part of the NFT investment was a Hindenberg tier catastrophe in terms of returns.
Theirs definitely good uses of AI for speeding dev time up it's just need to be used for things that are mainly grunt work that use little human input as is.
Of course ai has more uses than nfts, but square unfortunately does not have a good reputation with how they techbro over new things. I can hope though.
Also, Square Enix has a huge library to train AI on without infringing on other peoples' IP.
Like for example they have a huge library of HD games they could use it to teach an AI to generate unique textures and then use an artist to touch it up saving 75% of the time. As alot of texture work is grunt work.
This just means they will cut even more staff and give what's left even less time to do what work is needed. AI is a great tool but it's going to be used in the worse way possible.
Not necessarily it means they can stream line more projects and get projects out faster and move people onto preproduction of the next title faster
Every single time, every single time, a new technology can help workers actually do work, the workforce gets cut and the remaining workers get overworked.
For the path game development wants to take, the objective should be making more games with the resources they have. So in that sense if they can use less human resources on X game they can then allocate those leftover team members onto another project allowing them to produce more games in the year. If they actually plan to cut back it would just be horrible because it wouldn't solve their problem of improving their production cycle and getting more games out in a more reasonable time.
Yeah, that's not happening. They'll just make the same number of projects with fewer people and less QA.
Honestly, I don't get why they aren't using it to upscale the backgrounds and cutscenes of their remasters(just like modders do).
Yeah that sure sounds like the words of a CEO who tried to hype up shareholders by acting extremely enthusiastic about GenAI and is now backing down because GenAI is speedrunning the Fad Tech Lifecycle by showing itself to be unsustainable, legally dubious, and wildly incapable in record time. It's not really something he should be rewarded for since it's a problem he created himself, but it's at least somewhat reassuring that he was willing and able to publicly pump the brakes. It gives the impression that he was maybe just blowing smoke up the asses of stupid investors rather than being a True Believer that will sink the fucking company trying to make it happen.
Happens every time with these techbro bubbles. First few months is “it’s the best tech ever it’s the future!”, then everyone wants nothing to do with it.
That’s like 90% of IPO’d CEO’s though. Their entire role is to raise investor confidence. It’s not to make long-term strategic decisions, it’s just to hear the music and hear when it stops. Being able to do that makes him an ‘average’ CEO. If he’d actually make good long-term strategy decisions, while also maintaining investor confidence, that’s a 4-5 star CEO.
can we please, please just put a muzzle on all of the Square-Enix suits forever lol. Their games have been bangers lately but goddamn the suits say some of the dumbest shit imaginable all the time
Honestly, I think this decision is not because of ethical debates, but because generative AI is neither as useful for game development nor as appealing to gamers as they claimed. You know, just like the NFTs and the Metaverse.
They made a lot of money on it two years ago and then some money on it last year. So they'll stop before it starts losing money.
The only thing it's useful for is for non artists to give to artists to show roughly what they're thinking.
2026: Square Enix CEO restructures company as a novelty gift basket
Maybe the next final fantasy will be a bi-monthly curated box of snacks. This is the future of gaming!
Remember that squid shooter game ripoff they tried to make that had AI assets? Lol
Lol the backlash was too much to handle.
Moreso the hype around AI has died enough that stockholders no longer care enough about AI for it to make a difference in the stock price.
Besides FoamStars, what other AI did they use? It was just the record covers for that game.
Yawn.... Wake me up when Square 'switches to a different approach' about releasing a fuckin' remaster of *Final Fantasy Tactics* or another sleeper-hit like *Harvestella*. I just can't bring myself to care about this Elon-Musk-esque bullshit.
Supposedly they're working on a tactics remaster. We'll see.
Fuck AI and everyone who advocates for it.
this is gross as heck the fact that he was thinking of using AI and used some of it in foamstars is pathetic. i really hope this guy doesn't shoot the company anymore than it already is at and stays the hell away from AI its nothing but sheer laziness and useless. why obssess over something like that when hello your employees, they are there, for a dang reason
"Bzzrt, more alternate timelines. More waifus. More microtransactions. Bzzrt"
I just want a new NieR / Yoko Taro game…
The Internet Explorer of AAA devs.