Kingdom Hearts Collection box art sparks AI accusations as fans spot five-fingered Donald Duck

Kingdom Hearts fans slam new game art as AI-generated

For the first time in a long time, Kingdom Hearts fans had plenty to talk about. Kingdom Hearts 4 came out of hiding and is coming to Nintendo Switch 2. But it wasn't all good news: Some Kingdom Hearts fans are convinced that Square Enix's box art for the recently announced Kingdom Hearts Collection was either AI-generated or created with the assistance of AI. After Nintendo and Square Enix announced the new Kingdom Hearts collection, fans spotted some unusual illustrative quirks with the game's official artwork, notably that Donald Duck has four fingers on one hand, but five fingers on the other. Another user pointed out a longer list of flaws, including chains arranged in impossible configurations and a clock tower with drooping hands. Others observed that the soles of Sora's iconic oversized clown shoes were missing certain details, and that a building was melting in the background. The artwork had the trademark sloppiness and physical impossibility of generative AI (which Disney would seemingly be OK with). Polygon reached out to Square Enix for comment on whether the image was AI-generated, but hasn't received a response as of publishing. We'll update this story when the company responds. Due to the game industry's increasing use of generative AI, many players are on high alert for anything that resembles AI slop. In 2024, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu said that the company would be "aggressive in applying AI." Six months later, he backpedaled by saying they would be careful with the technology and that it would only be used in "areas unrelated to creativity." Then, a few months ago, Square swerved again, partnering with an AI research lab to have AI handle 70% of its QA testing by the end of 2027. Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi faced backlash after spotlighting an AI-generated Final Fantasy 6 remake concept. At this point, many gamers are quite exacerbated by reveal after reveal that AI has wormed its way into the creative process, even affecting how they view beloved games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Regardless of whether Kingdom Hearts Collection's box art was AI-generated or simply full of rushed errors, these issues partially undermined the series' first announcements in quite some time. During today's Nintendo Direct, Square Enix released a trailer for the long-anticipated Kingdom Hearts 4 while confirming it will be coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 alongside the PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. Kingdom Hearts Collection is also headed to those systems on Oct. 8, and it will include most of the series in some form -- specifically, it contains Kingdom Hearts - HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts 3 + Re Mind. Here's hoping that Square Enix takes today's backlash to heart -- the company may not ultimtely care, but sometimes public shaming does the trick. JRPG fans are eating well this year From Final Fantasy 7 Revelation to Kingdom Hearts 4, JRPG fans are about to have a feast

Donald Duck has five fingers in official art for Kingdom Hearts Collection, and that is definitely not right

made with AIWe predicted last week that, with Summer Game Fest season upon us, we'd be seeing an uptick in the number of cool-looking new games that, whoops, were made with AI. Is the new Kingdom Hearts Collection (1-3), announced today during the Nintendo Direct showcase, one of them? To paraphrase the famous Ancient Aliens meme, I'm not saying the answer is yes, but it's yes. The potential use of AI was once again given away by funky fingers, in this case on official artwork featuring the great American avatar Donald Duck. As noted by Tracker_TD on Bluesky, the second-best waterfowl maniac in animation history (I'm a Daffy man, myself) has three fingers on his right hand, but four on his left -- plus a thumb in both cases. There's really no missing it. that KH Switch collection pack thing sure has some interesting cover art interesting choice to give Donald a mismatched number of fingers on each hand, and a beak that absorbs into itself -- @tracker-td.bsky.social ( @tracker-td.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-06-09T22:15:11.829Z A number of press images accompanying the announcement have Donald's four-fingered hand covered, but it's clearly visible in an image posted by the official Kingdom Hearts account on X, and in a different piece of key art available on the Square Enix website -- it's 100% official, extra finger and all. There are no other cases of extra (or missing) fingers in the image that I've noticed, but I do wonder what exactly is going on with -- to quote PC Gamer wordsmith Morgan Park's reaction -- "Sora's whack-ass hand." Is that normal? At least it's got the right number of fingers, I guess. I've never been very good at picking out telltale signs of generative AI in promotional images, but those Donald fingers seem pretty egregious -- and even more so when compared to this image posted in response to Tracker_TD's message, which looks very similar but contains the correct number of fingers. Did they take this old 3D render and get AI to turn it into an "illustration"...? -- @cdrom.ca ( @cdrom.ca.bsky.social) 2026-06-09T22:15:11.422Z Interestingly, folks who are hip to the scene said the real evidence isn't in the obvious stuff, but in the backgrounds, which are also visibly off when you get in close. "It's always the backgrounds," jessarcade wrote. "It's detailed but lazy in a way that doesn't make sense for a human artist." Oh my god just why -- @chrisscheidig.bsky.social ( @chrisscheidig.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-06-09T22:15:11.254Z Yeah, there's more. Some of the oddities could be explained by an artist in a rush, or just good old-fashioned sloppiness, but collectively? It's a lot. Here is a post going around that is pointing out each of the signs that this is indeed AI -- @retrogameart.bsky.social ( @retrogameart.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-06-09T22:15:11.345Z I'd say it's pretty certain that generative AI was put to use here, but at this point all we can really do is speculate. Kingdom Hearts Collection (1-3) is coming to PC along with consoles, but Square Enix only announced it for the Microsoft Store -- there's no listing on Steam, which is the only storefront that requires AI disclosure. I've reached out to Square Enix to ask about the use of generative AI in the new game, and will update when they apologize for it.

Kingdom Hearts Fans Lose It Over Alleged AI-Modified Box Art

At first glance, nothing seems that off about the Kingdom Hearts Collection [I~III] box art for the Switch 2 version of the game. It features Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and several versions of Sora in nods to each of the three existing numbered entries. But fans who looked a little more closely quickly discovered apparent signs of generative AI. A debate ensued about whether the image was mostly slop or just tweaked by the controversial tech. It's possible we now have an answer. The issue began with Donald Duck's hands. His left hand has five fingers, which is normally the right amount, but not for a Disney character. Fans later noticed other unusual artifacts in the key art for the new collection. Various visual details, including gears on a clock tower in the background, the mesh of Donald's zipper, and treads on the bottom of one of Sora's boots, all seemed to indicate the sloppy work of AI trying to fudge things. This led to concerns that the entire image might have been mostly AI-generated, or a composite of a bunch of individual parts that were each AI-generated. Some fans noticed that Donald essentially looks like an illustrated version of one of his character's 3D model renders from the game. Was AI being used to fake a "hand-drawn" look to the cover art? While fans are primed to expect the worst with respect to genAI these days, especially from companies that claim to be embracing it in some aspects of their work, it was hard to figure out what the hell was actually going on. Enter online artist DekuDraws who's known for having a lot of experience studying and emulating Kingdom Hearts designer Tetsuya Nomura's style. "This is undeniably Nomura's work!" they wrote on X. "I believe the full illustration was intended to be compiled like this, hence why Donald's '4 finger' hand is hidden behind Sora. AI was used to separate the cast for alternate box art, same with the settings to give their 3D models a drawn look." They continued, "Seeing the rapidly spreading claims of AI use had me take a closer look. As someone who has studied Nomura's work, this is still him! This 'new' style is the one we saw in his Halloween illustration back in Oct. The man is overworked, we're lucky we even get new art!" It's a convincing theory that would certainly solve the mystery of what's going on with this particular key art image, much of which seems to be perfectly fine. The idea is that while the underlying art was hand-made, generative AI may have been introduced at some later stage when trying to compose different variations of the box art for different markets. It's still not clear why any of that would have been necessary, if indeed that was what happened. A representative for Square Enix did not immediately respond to a request for clarification. Square Enix's CEO has said he wants the company to be aggressive about trying to leverage genAI, including predictions that it could be used to perform the bulk of the RPG publisher's QA work. This posturing has all happened while the company has been cutting positions across its North American publishing operation. At Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest earlier this year, one of the company's localizers even made fun of the mandate to experiment with AI on stage at the event.

Kingdom Hearts AI art accusations hit Square Enix, and that sure looks like slop to me

A rush of Kingdom Hearts 4 news out of the Nintendo Direct June showcase has soured due to credible suspicions that generative AI was used in the lead art for the series' newly announced Nintendo Switch 2 collection. A large illustration straight from Square Enix's official asset library has been picked apart online, and the more you look, the uglier it gets. Fans quickly clocked that Donald has an odd number of fingers - five on his left hand, four on his right. The layering in Sora's hair is also bizarrely inconsistent, and several background details carry the telltale meltiness of AI art. The whole illustration is filled with clashing layers, wobbly lines, and strange proportions - not something you'd expect from a beloved series helmed by exacting creators, and especially one with a wealth of existing, readily referenced covers. It looks like the left-most Sora's left hand was stung by a bee, while the right-most Sora has a truly gigantic left hand and his right seems to clip straight through a keyblade. We can see the bottom of the guard where the hilt should be. The smokiest gun may be found in the background near Goofy. This cathedral-like building is a casserole of nonsense. Corners collapse in illogical waves, buttresses look like they've been microwaved for too long, and several sections of trim are both patternless and prone to vanishing into nothing. Similar issues appear throughout, with more architectural oddities found on the building at the left border. Dividers between windows randomly spiral into themselves, stone detailing appears to have been bandaged together, and the line work on the neon lights is both incredibly fuzzy and inordinately high-contrast. Even the multi-layered screens at the top of this building seem to be haphazardly conjoined. This is a pretty glaring instance of unusual art, but as is often the case, the perception and blowback here are just as important. This is incident number a billion of players vocally arguing that they will not accept AI-generated assets. And it's far from the first Summer Game Fest outcry. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis was made with AI, and Sega stuffed generative AI into Crazy Taxi: World Tour.