Foamstars producer confirms the game uses some generative AI art

The release of Foamstars is right around the corner as of recent news, but other news may sour the mood on this Splatoon-like team-based suds shooter. A producer on Foamstars recently revealed that, while much of the game is designed by the developers, it does use some generative AI in certain minimal assets.

Foamstars Producer Kosuke Okatani shared details of AI use in Foamstars in recent conversation with Video Games Chronicle. When asked directly if Foamstars uses AI-generated assets, Okatani confirmed that it does.

According to Producer Kosuke Okatani, Foamstars utilized Midjourney to develop a handful of assets for the game, mostly relagated to in-game icons.
Source: Midjourney

The in-game icons include album covers that represent Foamstars’ musical tracks. According to Okatani, they were created using Midjourney, a popular generative AI tool which has also been caught up in controversy for allegedly utilizing existing work in its outputs.

Controversy aside, this mirrors the stance recently taken by Square Enix President Takashi Kiryu, who said the company has plans to be “aggressive in applying AI” to its projects. While the full extent of that remains to be seen in Square Enix’s first-party ventures, it would appear that it’s already being applied in third-party ones.

With AI being such a hot-button topic of contention in current discourse, the effect of this information on Foamstars will be interesting to see. With the game’s release coming in February, stay tuned for further updates and news.