Square Enix's Foamstars to Arrive as PS Plus Monthly Free Title on February 6, Will Reportedly Include AI Art

gadgets.ndtv.com:

Foamstars, Square Enix's Splatoon-like 4v4 online party shooter announced last year, is coming next month. The PlayStation exclusive will release February 6 as a day-one launch title on PS Plus, Sony and Square Enix confirmed Tuesday. The game will be available to download for free on PS5 and PS4 as part of the PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup for next month, starting February 6 through March 4. Foamstars was announced at a PlayStation Showcase in May last year, showing off soapy shooting and colourful characters, both heavily inspired by Nintendo's Splatoon games. A PS Plus release will likely attract more players to the multiplayer title in its early days.

PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to redeem, download and play Foamstars at no extra cost. As with all free PS Plus monthly games, the Square Enix shooter, once redeemed, can be accessed beyond February as long as players hold on to their PS Plus membership, the publisher confirmed in its blog announcing the release date. After its PS Plus run, Foamstars will be available to buy on the PlayStation Store for $29.99 (roughly Rs. 2,494), starting March 5. Bear in mind, the multiplayer-only title would still require a PS Plus subscription for online play.

Ahead of Foamstars' release, Square Enix also confirmed that the party shooter will include some AI-generated art. Foamstars producer Kosuke Okatani told VGC recently that the developers had used Midjourney, a popular generative AI-based image generation tool, to create some art for in-game icons. “AI was used in the creation of the in-game album covers for the music featured in the FOAMSTARS' soundtrack. As developers, we're always looking at new technologies to see how they can assist with game development,” Square Enix later clarified to the publication.

Okatani said that major bulk of the game, including its core gameplay elements, was hand-crafted by the developers, adding that AI-generated content in the game amounted for “0.01 percent or even