Square Enix says Cursed Kingdom Hearts art is not AI

The anticipation for next-generation gaming often comes with a wave of excitement, but sometimes that excitement is tempered by visual surprises. In the case of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, recent announcements for the Switch 2 have promised native versions of the entire trilogy via The Kingdom Hearts Collection, setting a high bar for fidelity.

However, the excitement quickly collided with controversy when the official key art was released. Instead of glowing praise, players noticed several strange, almost surreal details that immediately sparked a debate online. Were these visual glitches, or something far more contemporary?

The suspicion quickly turned toward generative artificial intelligence. Fans began accusing Square Enix of using AI tools to create the visuals, pointing out inconsistencies and bizarre errors woven into the iconic imagery.

In response to the widespread feedback, Square Enix took the time to clarify the situation. They released a statement confirming that the assets were not the result of generative AI. Instead, they attributed the visual imperfections to human error during the development process.

“We’re aware of feedback regarding recent Kingdom Hearts visuals,” the official statement explained. “These assets were created by our development team without the use of generative AI, and the issues resulted from human error.”

The specific visual flaws that drew player attention were quite memorable. Details included Donald Duck sporting four fingers on one hand and five on the other, warped hands on the Clocktower, uneven links on Mickey’s Keyblade keychain, Sora’s crown-shaped belt chain melting into itself, and various clothing zippers that seemed to simply fade away.

Recognizing the importance of quality in their work, the developers assured players that they have implemented updates to correct these issues where appropriate. While the core visuals remained, tweaks were made to smooth out some of the most glaring inconsistencies.

Even after the clarification, visual drama persisted online. The original image circulated widely, but users quickly replaced it with updated versions, ensuring the community saw a revised look. The subsequent images retained some of the oddities—like warped crowns on Sora’s belt chain and missing patterns on his shoes—but successfully corrected the most egregious errors, such as fixing Donald Duck’s hand to display the correct four digits.