Square Enix Clarifies Kingdom Hearts Art Controversy as Simple Human Mistake, Not GenAI Use

Last month, a new Kingdom Hearts Collection [I~III] was announced, bringing the beloved trilogy to Nintendo fans on the Switch 2. However, the North American box art sparked a bit of controversy when players noticed that Donald Duck had an unusual number of fingers on one hand. This led to speculation about the involvement of generative AI in the artwork, prompting Square Enix to address the situation.

Unlike the original artwork by Tetsuya Nomura, which featured characters grouped together, the new box art displayed them separately. This separation led some to believe that an AI tool might have been used to fill in the gaps, resulting in the discrepancies seen in Donald’s hand.

Square Enix has since clarified that generative AI was not used in the creation of the assets. A representative stated, “We’re aware of feedback regarding recent Kingdom Hearts visuals. These assets were created by our development team without the use of generative AI, and the issues resulted from human error.”

The original artwork featuring five-fingered Donald has been updated in Square Enix’s promotional materials ahead of the game’s release on October 8. However, the initial post that ignited the discussion remains online. The representative emphasized, “Quality is extremely important to us, and updated assets have been implemented where appropriate.” Meanwhile, the company has expressed optimism about the potential of generative AI to enhance efficiency in their processes.