Hironobu Sakaguchi – the creator of Final Fantasy – found himself in the middle of a social media storm this week after enthusiastically praising an AI-generated video imagining what a Final Fantasy VI remake might look like. What started as an excited share quickly turned into a lesson in how the gaming community feels about generative AI in creative spaces.
The Video That Started It All
On May 16, an X user going by desusanJP posted a roughly two-minute AI-generated sizzle reel envisioning a modern remake of Final Fantasy VI – widely considered one of the greatest JRPGs ever made. The video went viral quickly, and Sakaguchi spotted it. He reshared it with the reaction: “What is this?! That’s amazing!”
It’s not entirely clear whether Sakaguchi realised the video was fully AI-generated or assumed it was a fan-made animation render. But the comment was enough to set things in motion.
Fellow Developers Push Back
Akitoshi Kawazu – a designer on the original early Final Fantasy games and the director behind the SaGa series – stepped in to pump the brakes. Kawazu told Sakaguchi to hold off, pointing out that what he was looking at was an AI creation. Even so, Kawazu added that he agrees Final Fantasy VI deserves the Final Fantasy VII Remake treatment – a full, modern reimagining of the classic.
Plenty of fans were less measured. The backlash centred on the growing frustration with generative AI being used to simulate game development work, particularly given ongoing debates about how these AI models are trained – often on the work of human artists without explicit consent or compensation.
The Video Itself Has Issues
Even setting aside the AI ethics debate, the video wasn’t universally praised on a technical level. Viewers noted unnatural character gestures and an overall “deadened” quality to the animations – a common artefact of current AI video generation that still struggles with coherent, lifelike movement. It was impressive enough to catch attention, but critics were quick to point out the tells.
Sakaguchi Clarifies His Position
Following the blowback, Sakaguchi clarified that he is not using AI tools in his current game development projects. The controversy is limited to his personal social media activity – not any official work. That said, the episode has added his name to the list of prominent industry figures who have publicly engaged with AI-generated content, which continues to be a lightning rod in creative communities.
The underlying point that everyone seems to agree on: Final Fantasy VI is a masterpiece, and a real remake – made by actual developers – would be something special.
