Disgaea creator, former Nippon Ichi Software president and current Superniche CEO Sohei Niikawa recently talked about generative AI use in game development in an interview with Dengeki Online.
Firstly, Niikawa states that he doesn’t see AI as a threat, but rather, “as a tool.” He explains that while he thinks it’s fine to leverage AI in order to improve productivity, he is firmly against copyright infringement or any other illegal uses. When it comes to utilizing AI in his own work, Niikawa says that he won’t be using the technology for the time being, especially not in his writing.
“I think you can just create a plot, feed it to AI and let it finish the story for you, and I’m sure there are many people doing that now. I don’t want to deny that approach at all, though it does make me think – Is that actually entertaining?,” Niikawa says.
He notes that, while AI might be a good tool for mass production, mass producing games is not a goal he’s striving to achieve. “I have a fundamental desire to create the stories and characters I personally want to see, so it just won’t be interesting unless I manually shape each one of them. It’s not fun if I don’t thread together every single word myself.”
Niikawa explains that this is one of the biggest reasons why he doesn’t use any AI for his creative work. While he thinks it could be useful in areas like generating character names or for looking up certain information, he says that he has “absolutely no interest in having it write the story instead of me.”
“For example, I wouldn’t want to ask AI to give me 10 kinds of stories that would sell well. I find value in selecting themes I personally find interesting, and writing about them myself – so I don’t think that kind of approach suits me,” Niikawa adds.
Currently, Niikawa is writing and producing many new titles, including Demons’ Night Fever, a speedrun-training SRPG, and Noroi Ayashi: The ∞th Oddity, a time loop themed horror stealth action adventure. Fans can rest assured that the concepts and scenarios for the games are entirely human made.
Demons’ Night Fever is set to launch on October 22, 2026 for PC (Steam), PS5, and Nintendo Switch. Noroi Ayashi: The ∞th Oddity is planned for release on PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, and Switch 2 in 2027.
