Level-5 recently held the “LEVEL5 VISION 2026 II: Dreams” online event, showcasing titles like Professor Layton and the New World of Steam and Yo-kai Watch 2: Haunted Domain. Some players noticed what appeared to be heavy generative AI processing in the visuals, even comparing old and new materials to question character faces, background details, and visual consistency. Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino later confirmed the company did use cutting-edge AI technology in the presentation, and the scope was broader than expected.
Players Just Started Fuming, CEO Already Apologized
Hino said the AI use was primarily to make the event look “more spectacular” and had an experimental nature, but he acknowledged it made some viewers uncomfortable and offered a public apology. He emphasized that scripts, character design, and fundamental settings that define a game’s identity are still handled by human creators, and the actual games released won’t use simple AI-generated outputs directly.
Is Level-5 Using AI to Save Time?
Hino believes AI can help digitize human-created content—for example, converting original artwork into polygon models—thereby reducing production time and letting developers focus on actual creative work. He also revealed that Level-5 is currently trying to shrink typical 5-year development cycles for major titles to just 2 years, with AI efficiency being one area of exploration.