Square Enix’s president, Takashi Kiryu, emphasised the company’s commitment to embracing AI in its future development and publishing endeavours. Kiryu, who assumed the role in June 2023, outlined various initiatives in the traditional New Year’s Letter, including scrutinising games in progress, providing more resources to internal teams, and fostering collaboration between content and publishing teams.

One notable aspect of the letter highlighted Kiryu’s ambitions in the field of artificial intelligence. He expressed the company’s intention to aggressively incorporate AI and cutting-edge technologies into both content development and publishing functions. The short-term focus is on improving development productivity and refining marketing efforts, while the long-term goal is to use these technologies for creating innovative content and identifying business opportunities through technological innovation.

Kiryu also acknowledged the potential of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, to reshape creative processes, including programming. While he didn’t provide specific details on how Square Enix would utilise AI in game development, the co-director of Final Fantasy VII Remake had previously discussed the use of AI tools for character facial animation and lip-syncing.

The letter maintained the company’s commitment to supporting blockchain technology, expressed by the previous president, Yosuke Matsuda, in the previous year’s letter. Additionally, Kiryu referenced Xbox’s multi-year deal with Inworld to build AI dialogue and narrative tools, highlighting the potential for AI to streamline various aspects of game development, such as localisation, scriptwriting, and game testing. The CFO of Xbox, Tim Stuart, further elaborated on the transformative impact of AI on game development, emphasising its potential to handle tasks like creating dialogue, guiding players through levels, and optimising game testing processes.