Falcom, creator of the Trails in the Sky and Y’s series, has revealed during a recent shareholder presentation it has begun using AI during game development, stating they are proceeding “cautiously”, but that it’s been used in the early stages of development nonetheless.
As reported by Umisuika on X, attending the shareholders meeting in-person, a Falcom representative stated: “We are proceeding cautiously due to legal issues. We are using AI to brainstorm scenarios and do research. What used to take 2-3 hours can now be completed in 10 minutes. AI is also used to correct typos in the scenario.”
It is worth noting that this is a rough translation from Japanese to English using Google’s in-built browser tools, and therefore the intricacies of this statement could be off. Even so, it is seemingly a confirmation that Falcom is integrating AI into its workflow.
It is no secret that Japanese video game companies have started embracing AI en masse. At Tokyo Game Show this year, over half of polled developers acknowledged that AI has been used in game development. Sega has stated it’ll start using AI “appropriately” in spite of pushback, and Square Enix wants AI to do 70 percent of its QA by 2027.
It is far from a topic isolated to Eastern game development though. Only this week, the CEO of Larian met firm backlash following an interview in which he revealed that AI was being used at his studio, and acting unions continue to stand firm against the technology and the dangers it poses to the people they represent.