{"id":2074972,"date":"2026-08-03T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2074972"},"modified":"2026-08-03T12:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:05:00","slug":"square-enix-responds-to-kingdom-hearts-collection-ai-controversy-two-months-after-players-called-it-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2074972","title":{"rendered":"Square Enix responds to Kingdom Hearts Collection AI controversy two months after players called it out"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/kingdom-hearts\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Kingdom Hearts<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Square Enix responds to Kingdom Hearts Collection AI controversy two months after players called it out<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;Updated assets have been implemented where appropriate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Sad-sora-AI.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Sad Sora next to some Kingdom Hearts artwork that&apos;s accused of using AI\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Sad-sora-AI.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Dom Peppiatt avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/pxl_20220402_110941365.portrait_V04meYj.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1044\" height=\"1130\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Dom Peppiatt avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"pxl_20220402_110941365.portrait_V04meYj.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1044\" height=\"1130\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/dom-peppiatt\">Dom Peppiatt<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Deputy Editorial Director<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\n<p>Published on   <time datetime=\"2026-08-03T12:05:00+00:00\" data-auto-time-zone=\"true\" data-year=\"numeric\" data-month=\"short\" data-day=\"numeric\" data-hour=\"numeric\" data-minute=\"numeric\">Aug. 3, 2026, 12:05 p.m.<\/time>\n              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/kingdom-hearts-collection-ai-accusations-response?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          6 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"a09a50fc-db40-4af2-a2f6-0d331acdbe1f\" data-name=\"Kingdom Hearts\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Kingdom Hearts\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Kingdom Hearts\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Kingdom Hearts\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Kingdom Hearts\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Kingdom Hearts\" title=\"Follow Kingdom Hearts\"><br \/>\n  Follow Kingdom Hearts<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/kingdom-hearts\">Kingdom Hearts<\/a> publisher and developer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/square-enix\">Square Enix<\/a>, has denied claims that it used AI-generated content to promote the yet-to-be-released Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3. Fans first accused the company of using AI back in early June, and now &#8211; some two months after the initial accusations &#8211; Square Enix has responded.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re aware of feedback regarding recent Kingdom Hearts visuals,&#8221; a Square Enix representative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/exclusive-disney-insists-that-cursed-kingdom-hearts-art-was-not-ai-generated\/\">told GameSpot<\/a>. &#8220;These assets were created by our development team without the use of generative AI, and the issues resulted from human error.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Kingdom Hearts Collection [1-3] - Official Announcement Trailer | Nintendo Direct June 2026\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DW7UhamPIms?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/DW7UhamPIms\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Kingdom Hearts Collection [1-3] &#8211; Official Announcement Trailer | Nintendo Direct June 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"button video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DW7UhamPIms\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figure>\n<p>The Square Enix rep noted that the publisher is aware of the furore online, and promised to update the artwork in order to remove the specific instances people claim are made using AI.<\/p>\n<p>I am left doubtful: there are multiple instances of <em>something <\/em>going on in the art: Donald Duck had five fingers on one hand and four on the other (as well as some &#8216;melting&#8217; visual effects on his zipper), Mickey Mouse&#8217;s keyblade chain seemed to morph into a different kind of chain halfway down, Sora&#8217;s shoes were inaccurate to those on his character model, and the hands on the clock tower seemed to be bent downwards and not accurate to previous artworks. You can see the artwork for yourself below.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 artwork\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/kingdom-hearts-collection-art.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.7166666666666667\" width=\"1376\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 artwork\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"kingdom-hearts-collection-art.jpg\" height=\"1920\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.7166666666666667\" width=\"1376\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Square Enix<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It&#8217;s also worth noting that the updated asset (as pointed out by GameSpot) fixes Donald&#8217;s hands, but doesn&#8217;t address the clock tower or the chains or the shoes.<\/p>\n<p>Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 comes to PC, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/platforms\/switch-2\">Switch 2<\/a>, PS5, and Xbox Series X\/S 8th October, 2026. If you need something to tide you over in the meantime, you can always check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/kingdom-hearts-4-new-trailer-switch-2-at-launch\">the recent updates we&#8217;ve had to Kingdom Hearts 4<\/a>, which recently showed signs of life after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/dont-worry-kingdom-hearts-fans-it-looks-like-we-might-get-some-new-info-on-kingdom-hearts-4-in-a-years-time\">a long, long time without any significant update<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/kingdom-hearts\">Kingdom Hearts<\/a> publisher and developer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/square-enix\">Square Enix<\/a>, has denied claims that it used AI-generated content to promote the yet-to-be-released Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3. Fans first accused the company of using AI back in early June, and now &#8211; some two months after the initial accusations &#8211; Square Enix has responded.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re aware of feedback regarding recent Kingdom Hearts visuals,&#8221; a Square Enix representative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/exclusive-disney-insists-that-cursed-kingdom-hearts-art-was-not-ai-generated\/\">told GameSpot<\/a>. &#8220;These assets were created by our development team without the use of generative AI, and the issues resulted from human error.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Kingdom Hearts Collection [1-3] - Official Announcement Trailer | Nintendo Direct June 2026\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DW7UhamPIms?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/DW7UhamPIms\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Kingdom Hearts Collection [1-3] &#8211; Official Announcement Trailer | Nintendo Direct June 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"button video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DW7UhamPIms\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figure>\n<p>The Square Enix rep noted that the publisher is aware of the furore online, and promised to update the artwork in order to remove the specific instances people claim are made using AI.<\/p>\n<p>I am left doubtful: there are multiple instances of <em>something <\/em>going on in the art: Donald Duck had five fingers on one hand and four on the other (as well as some &#8216;melting&#8217; visual effects on his zipper), Mickey Mouse&#8217;s keyblade chain seemed to morph into a different kind of chain halfway down, Sora&#8217;s shoes were inaccurate to those on his character model, and the hands on the clock tower seemed to be bent downwards and not accurate to previous artworks. You can see the artwork for yourself below.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 artwork\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/kingdom-hearts-collection-art.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.7166666666666667\" width=\"1376\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 artwork\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"kingdom-hearts-collection-art.jpg\" height=\"1920\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.7166666666666667\" width=\"1376\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Square Enix<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It&#8217;s also worth noting that the updated asset (as pointed out by GameSpot) fixes Donald&#8217;s hands, but doesn&#8217;t address the clock tower or the chains or the shoes.<\/p>\n<p>Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 comes to PC, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/platforms\/switch-2\">Switch 2<\/a>, PS5, and Xbox Series X\/S 8th October, 2026. If you need something to tide you over in the meantime, you can always check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/kingdom-hearts-4-new-trailer-switch-2-at-launch\">the recent updates we&#8217;ve had to Kingdom Hearts 4<\/a>, which recently showed signs of life after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/dont-worry-kingdom-hearts-fans-it-looks-like-we-might-get-some-new-info-on-kingdom-hearts-4-in-a-years-time\">a long, long time without any significant update<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Kingdom Hearts Square Enix responds to Kingdom Hearts Collection AI controversy two months after players called it out &#8220;Updated assets have been implemented where appropriate.&#8221; Image credit: Eurogamer News by Dom Peppiatt Deputy Editorial Director Published on Aug. 3, 2026, 12:05 p.m. 6 comments Follow Kingdom Hearts Kingdom Hearts publisher and developer, Square [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2074972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2074972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2074972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2074972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2074972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}