Square Enix Blames Human Error for Kingdom Hearts Collection Cover Art Controversy, Denies AI Use

The Kingdom Hearts AI Art Controversy Has Be Cleared Up

Last month, Square Enix revealed a new Kingdom Hearts Collection [I~III] that would, among other things, finally bring the existing trilogy to Nintendo fans via the Switch 2. But the North American box art released for the game immediately caused a stir when people noticed the wrong number of fingers on Donald Duck's hand. A small controversy arose over whether genAI was involved, and Square Enix has finally responded to try to clear the air. Unlike the original Tetsuya Nomura art, which showed characters altogether near the center of the composition, the new box art had them separated. Some speculated that some sort of AI tool had been used to try to fill in the new spaces with new details, including a Donald Duck hand that was previously hidden, leading to apparent errors in the art. Square Enix has now suggested that's not the case, though without going into much detail about what actually happened. "We're aware of feedback regarding recent Kingdom Hearts visuals," a Square Enix PR rep told GameSpot. "These assets were created by our development team without the use of generative AI, and the issues resulted from human error." The old art with five-fingered Donald has since been replaced in Square Enix's promotional materials ahead of the game's release on October 8, though the original X post that kicked off the firestorm is still up. "Quality is extremely important to us, and updated assets have been implemented where appropriate," the PR person said. Elsewhere, the company has been very bullish on the prospects of genAI helping to improve efficiencies.

Square Enix says that weird Kingdom Hearts Collection cover art wasn't AI-generated and "issues" like Donald Duck's uneven number of fingers "resulted from human error"

A finger on the monkey's paw curled with Nintendo fans wishing they could play the Kingdom Hearts games on Switch 2. A collection combining the mainline trilogy was announced in June, but it came with cover art that was immediately hit with AI accusations, a claim Square Enix is now wholeheartedly refuting. In a statement given to GameSpot, the company claims everything in that cover is manmade, and the problems people were highlighting came from human hands. "We're aware of feedback regarding recent Kingdom Hearts visuals," a Square Enix PR representative said. "These assets were created by our development team without the use of generative AI, and the issues resulted from human error." This would be fine and dandy if we were talking about one or two problems, but there's a long list when it comes to that visual. Donald Duck has three fingers on one hand and four on the other, the hands on the clock tower don't look straight and the details around the gears of the clock are muddy, the Keyblades have inconsistently sized keychains - I could go on. It's worth noting many of these things are tropes of gen-AI imagery, hence why fans were so quick to accuse Square Enix of using it in this instance. The software used to create AI imagery gets these facets a little bit wrong because what it puts out is a composite picture using other assets, made extremely quickly. Nonetheless, the statement points to the revised artwork. "Quality is extremely important to us, and updated assets have been implemented where appropriate," finishes Square Enix's comment. Another cover has since been put out. Some things have been sorted, like Donald's hands, but other parts, like the zipper on Sora's jacket going nowhere, remain. Yet another version exists on YouTube, where characters have simply been moved around. The original is still easy to find on Square Enix's Twitter feed. The Kingdom Hearts Collection comes out on October 6, and maybe we'll see another draft of this art when it actually hits shelves.

'Quality Is Extremely Important to Us' -- Square Enix Says Controversial Kingdom Hearts Collection Art Was the Result of 'Human Error,' Not Generative AI

The controversial key art for Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 did not contain any AI-generated materials and was actually the result of "human error," according to a new statement from Square Enix. Fans have been trying to unlock the mystery behind some strange and concerning art posted by the publisher since it was revealed in June. The illustration in question arrived alongside the reveal that Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 would soon come to PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S, but it didn't take long for players to notice a few worrying details. Social media posts following the announcement quickly took aim at the chain on Mickey Mouse's Keyblade, the hands on the Traverse Town clocktower, and the details on the bottom of Sora's shoes. The real canary in the coal mine, though, were Donald Duck's hands, with one featuring four fingers, while the other featured five. These supposed pieces of evidence had fans believing Square Enix used artificial intelligence to generate additional details for an existing art piece, but the publisher has finally chimed in to refute these claims. In a statement shared with GameSpot, a Square Enix representative said that the publisher has heard the feedback and made changes where necessary. More importantly, though, the message stated that no genAI was used for any version of the image. "We're aware of feedback regarding recent Kingdom Hearts visuals," the Square Enix spokesperson told the site via phone call. "These assets were created by our development team without the use of generative AI, and the issues resulted from human error. "Quality is extremely important to us, and updated assets have been implemented where appropriate." Square Enix did not clarify how the art came to be in the first place. Additionally, as mentioned by GameSpot, the updated art does seem to have fixed Donald's hand, but other details, such as that muddy-looking clocktower and Sora's shoes, remain. Either way, not everyone is happy with the explanation. "We've found so much of the art that was retrofitted to make the image that I dunno if anyone was arguing that the whole image was AI. It's just sloppy and bad," one fan on Reddit said. "They might as well just scrap this and make new cover art at this point," another added. "Even if it's not AI-generated, it's definitely one of the worst KH cover arts. The composition just looks lazy." "It was definitely AI," one X/Twitter user suggested. "I love Kingdom Hearts and Square Enix but come on. There's two versions of the picture, one where the characters are separated and one where they're not, and the one where they're not is obvious they used AI for it, which caused it to make extra fingers." Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 comes to PC, Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S October 8, 2026. In the meantime, you can see the latest on Kingdom Hearts 4, which reappeared shortly after the collection was announced. Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).