Square Enix Plans AI-Driven QA Revolution Sparks Industry Debate Over Human vs. Automated Testing

Larian publishing director balks at Square Enix's push to replace QA workers with AI: 'The idea that QA people can be replaced at a large scale is stupid ... They are a massively advantageous vibe check'

Quality assurance -- the sacred task of making sure games break as infrequently as possible -- is a non-negotiable part of development, especially when you're talking about big triple-A RPGs. It's something the folks at Square Enix and Larian know a thing or two about; but while the higher-ups at Square have made it clear they'd like the vast majority of the QA process automated, Larian publishing honcho Michael Douse says that's "stupid." Square's plans, which came to light in a recent financial progress report, were part of a larger push to utilize AI in partnership with a research team at Matsuo Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. That report named a goal which, were I a QA worker at Square Enix right about now, I would find pretty startling: to "automate 70% of QA and debugging tasks in game development by the end of 2027." Douse, publishing director at Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian, conceded Thursday in a post on X that "AI and automation is clearly integral to QA for any large scale game" but said "the idea that QA people can be replaced at a large scale is stupid because it supposes that the conversations with them can be replaced and they can't. They are a massively advantageous vibe check." Further down in the thread, he added that QA jobs were crucial "gateways to the industry" that, though not inherently entry-level, tended to be the sorts of jobs that helped you find your next lead designer. Without that pipeline for junior developers to get their foot in the door, Douse said it's hard to "offer people beneficial positions that allow them to grow and help to grow you." In other words, "this is a stupid path." If the benefit of AI in a field like QA feels like a grey area to you, things aren't going to get clearer any time soon. There's no shortage of contention as to what counts as generative AI, and investment money is getting thrown around like candy despite dubious results. I don't know how many studios will take after Square's new QA strategy, but it's clear that AI, in one form or another, is already more than a little popular as a gamedev tool.

After chasing NFTs and the metaverse, Square Enix wants generative AI to do 70% of its QA by 2027

Square Enix wants 70% of its QA work to be handled by generative AI by the end of 2027, in partnership with the University of Tokyo's Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory. Announced in a progress report for last year's Mid-Term Business Plan, the company notes its reason for doing so, the hope that: "through the use of automation technology, aim to improve the efficiency of QA operations and establish a competitive advantage in game development." This collaboration between Square Enix and the Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory comes in the form of a research team with more than ten members, filled with both researchers from the Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory, as well as engineers from Square Enix. The Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory is a dedicated department of the University of Tokyo which focuses on new technology. It states on its official website a desire to "create an ecosystem that is equivalent to Silicon Valley". Square Enix has stated that within a year since the initiation of its Mid-Term Business Plan, the company has been "promoting AI utilization in Japan", as part of its goal to "Roll out initiatives to create additional foundational stability". Back in February, Square Enix already announced it was using AI during game development, specifically Azure Open AI. Its CEO stated at the start of 2024 that the company would be "aggressive in applying AI". The company has also expressed interest in Metaverse and blockchain games. The president of Square Enix Yosuke Matsuda wrote in 2022 that the Metaverse would play a role in the company's future. Square Enix also launched a blockchain game Symbogenesis in 2023, which entered its final season eight months ago. Only early this week, Square Enix and other Japanese publishers asked Open AI to cease training it's Sora 2 model on their creative works. As for as the fruits of Square Enix's AI-assisted labour, the publisher "dabbled" with the technology when making Foamstars. Updates for Foamstars ceased at the start of this year.

Final Fantasy Maker Wants Generative AI To Fix 70% Of Game Bugs

Square Enix is currently in the middle of a reboot. Following a bunch of flops (remember Foamstars?) and some great games held back by timed exclusivity (Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth), the RPG publisher has been pivoting to a multiplatform approach and retooling its slate of upcoming releases. It's also, apparently, making a big push into leveraging generative AI. The company announced a new goal of having 70 percent of quality assurance and game debugging work handled by generative AI by 2027. "Through the use of automation technology, [we] aim to improve the efficiency of QA operations and establish a competitive advantage in game development," reads a new presentation updating investors on Square Enix's business strategy (via VGC). The project developed out of an AI-themed "idea contest" the company held, and will be part of a joint research initiative with Matsuo Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. Is this a real plan or just a way to impress investors with buzzwords? Square Enix isn't the only company trying to apply generative AI tools to QA. While some companies get lampooned for letting AI slop infest concept art or even finished loading screens that appear in the game, others have argued that the job of discovering and documenting bugs is one where LLM technology will be most useful. An AI data firm claimed earlier this year that 30 percent of respondents to a developer survey believed AI would play an "extremely important role" in QA testing. But will it actually be any good or save studios time and money? Veteran game artist Del Walker pointed out a recent bug in Marvel Rivals by which a costume completely breaks a character's model during certain animations. "What is GenAi really gonna say when something like this pops up?" he wrote on X. "Can it even critically understand what it's looking at to report the issue accurately?" Quality assurance has long been at the bottom of the hierarchy when it comes to game development prestige and pay, despite bugs and glitches being the first things to go viral during a game launch, setting the tone of how big-budget games are perceived. They can also make or break its initial reception if things are particularly bad. Fallout 76 was particularly bad when it first released and was infamous early on for important updates that found new ways to accidentally break the game. QA, in other words, is very important, but it can also be very labor intensive. If we know one thing about companies its that they love results and hate having to pay people to produce them. It's easy to envision a way forward where developers on the studio floor are able to experiment with new tools and see whether they work before committing to ambitious goals that replace expertise with automation. That probably doesn't sound as good in a PowerPoint presentation, though.

Baldur's Gate 3 publishing lead slams Square Enix's push to automate 70% of debugging with AI: "The idea that QA people can be replaced at a large scale is stupid"

Larian's Michael Douse says QA workers "know what is good and what is bad before the audience does." Square Enix recently doubled down on its commitment to AI and shared that it's planning to "automate 70% of QA" in the next few years. But it's an initiative that Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director Michael 'Cromwelp' Douse calls a "stupid path" to take since quality assurance workers offer more than just mindless bug-squashing that can be replaced with automation. Reacting to the Final Fantasy publisher's quest to bulk up its use of AI, Douse jumped online to say that "QA are some of the most video games-engaged people in any company," and are "integral" for community-focused teams, publishing departments, and often "know what is good and what is bad before the audience does." "AI and automation are clearly integral to QA for any large-scale game," Douse also acknowledged, "but the idea that QA people can be replaced at a large scale is stupid because it supposes that the conversations with them can be replaced and they can't. They are a massively advantageous vibe check." The other big worry in this supposed AI-QA future is its impact on jobs and career advancement. "QA is not an inherently entry-level job but I will also add that without gateways to the industry, you won't find your lead designers," Douse added. "This is a stupid path. You want to be able to offer people beneficial positions that allow them to grow and help to grow you!" Douse's last point is a regular point of contention whenever the use of AI in any industry pops up. If AI is supposed to take over simpler tasks to free up time for workers to focus on higher-priority stuff, how will junior employees cut their teeth and develop their skills? Palworld's publishing lead also recently ramped up his crusade against AI games, meanwhile, Take-Two's CEO called it the "future of technology."

Square Enix: "70% of QA and debugging tasks" for games should be done by AI

For over ten years, there has been an epidemic of AAA games being released in an unfinished state, with us gamers expected to pay full price and then act as unpaid beta testers. It's a nasty scheme, but it seems to be working, as we see no desire to change the concept. However, Square Enix has its own idea for how to debug games in the future. On page five of their business plan 'Square Enix Reboots and Awakens' (via VGC), we can read that their goal is to have almost all beta testing done by AI in the near future: "Automate 70% of QA and debugging tasks in game development by the end of 2027. Through the use of automation technology, aim to improve the efficiency of QA operations and establish a competitive advantage in game development." This work will be carried out by researchers from the Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory in Tokyo, as well as engineers from Square Enix itself. QA work takes time and is very expensive, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be successful. We all want bug-free and smoother games, but how competent AI is at finding things related to pure gameplay, pedagogically designed menus, and other aspects that are more a matter of opinion and taste remains to be seen.

Square Enix Is Pushing Hard for AI in Game Development, Planning to Let It Handle 70% Of QA By 2027

Square Enix is the latest video game publisher to push for AI usage in video game development, aiming to let it handle a critical part of development almost completely by 2027. As part of the company's latest earnings report, the Japanese publisher shared a Progress Report on its Medium-Term Business Plan, detailing some of the initiatives underway to boost long-term growth, which include promoting AI utilization in Japan. This is being achieved through the initiation of joint research with the Matsu Laboratory at the University of Tokyo, aimed at improving the efficiency of game development processes using AI technology. The current goal of this joint research project is to automate 70% of QA and debugging tasks in game development by the end of 2027. This will "improve the efficiency of QA operations and establish a competitive advantage in game development", Square Enix detailed in the report. As of now, the research team is composed of more than 10 people, including researchers from the Matsu-Iwasawa Laboratory and engineers from Square Enix. While Square Enix has only started researching AI usage in QA, other publishers are already using it for their titles, putting testers' jobs at risk. Last month, we learned that EA has already been using AI in QA for a while, as a former employee at Respawn confirmed that over 100 people were laid off last Spring because the company started using AI to review and summarize feedback from play testers, which was work previously handled by human employees. Square Enix's plans to utilize AI to enhance game development efficiency appear to align with a prevailing sentiment among the most successful Japanese video game developers, such as Masahiro Sakurai and Hideo Kojima. Both developers are not averse to using AI to make large-scale game development sustainable and let it handle tedious tasks to allow them to focus on the creative process.

Mass layoffs hit Square Enix hours after it shares plans to have AI handle "70%" of its quality assurance and debugging soon

Square Enix also revealed plans to shift development to Japan Layoffs have hit Square Enix in the US and UK, with upwards of 100 employees reportedly impacted. Several laid-off employees confirmed the news on social media. I reached out to Square Enix for comment and clarification, and received the following reply from a company spokesperson: "We are reorganizing our operations in North America and Europe to strengthen our development structure and to drive a globally integrated marketing strategy. "This was an extremely difficult decision, made following careful consideration and analysis by our leadership, in order to best position the Group's long-term growth. "We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the talented team members who will be departing the company for their significant contributions to Square Enix. During this period of transition, we remain committed to treating each individual with the utmost respect and providing extensive support throughout this process." IGN reports that internal sources confirmed up to 137 jobs are at risk in the UK alongside an unknown number of US roles. Any would-be UK layoffs will be subject to local labor laws mandating a consultation period. VGC, citing an internal video call, reports "nearly all areas" of the company's business will be impacted. I've seen several members of the Square Enix community management team, in particular, publicly confirm that they've been laid off. This wave of layoffs seems to be part of Square Enix's push to consolidate development resources in its home country of Japan, which has been made public. In an investor presentation released today, November 6, the company outlines its "Overseas Structural Reform," which includes movements to "close overseas development studios and shift toward consolidating development functions in Japan." "The management of IPs previously overseen by overseas development studios will be globally integrated," the company adds. This presentation also shared the "goal" of having "70% of QA [quality assurance] and debugging tasks in game development" handled by AI by the end of 2027. Square Enix has historically been vocal about investing in AI - CEO Takashi Kiryu said last year he wants the company to be "aggressive" with the technology - so this comes as no great surprise, but today's one-two punch of AI and layoffs has nevertheless stoked scrutiny at a time where the games industry is, by and large, grappling with exactly these two issues.

Square Enix's multiplatform plan is already working, but it still wants to follow up a Dragon Quest roguelike and Dissidia Final Fantasy with more mobile games based on "major IPs" and "automate 70% of QA" with AI

The house of Final Fantasy wants to "establish a competitive advantage in game development" with AI tech Square Enix's latest update on its three-year business "reboot" has shed light on the company's future plans, so expect more multiplatform releases and mobile games based on the publisher's biggest brands, plus a push for AI behind the scenes. The Final Fantasy publisher made its financial 'Progress Report' public earlier today, where it doubled down on AI adoption, writing that it's "promoting AI utilization" in its Japan-set offices. Square is also working with the Matsuo Laboratory to improve on the tech as it relates to gaming, with the end goal being to "automate 70% of QA and debugging tasks in game development by the end of 2027" and "establish a competitive advantage in game development." Square also said it recently organized a "company-wide business idea contest held under the theme of AI, with several selected ideas developed into projects [that are] currently being promoted internally." Something tells me Square isn't referring to its never-ending assembly line of 2B figures with that one. Elsewhere, the publisher said it's working to have its "SD" segment adopt the business-wide "shift of quality over quantity", explicitly referring to its mobile games. Pointing to the Dragon Quest roguelike and the 3v3 Dissidia Final Fantasy, both launching on phones next year, the company stated that efforts are also underway to "transition toward the development of titles centered on major IPs." If you're curious about what Square Enix considers its golden geese, its website lists five of its "Main Products and Services." Among the lineup are, of course, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, and then... Space Invaders and Just Cause. The promise might raise a few eyebrows since Square Enix hasn't exactly shied away from making mobile games based on its heavy hitters in the past, and it definitely hasn't been shy about throwing them away either. Earlier this year, Squeenix canceled a Kingdom Hearts mobile game, repeating itself from Nier Reincarnation's shut down last year. Heck, just last week, two other mobile games based on Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest were sunsetted in Japan after ten years. Maybe the company's next crack at mobile gaming will go better. Despite all of that, Square is still making the premium "HD" games most of its fans want to see the most, and it's doubling down on its plan to launch its games on all platforms simultaneously. Since Square Enix began its multiplat plan in 2024's fiscal year - recently porting games like Final Fantasy 16 to Xbox and PC - its back catalogue game sales have increased by 31%.