Square Enix has recently been using Google Gemini to automate its quality assurance process. As reported by ITMedia, the game company’s AI and engine development division general manager Takeshi Aramaki revealed this during a presentation at the Google Cloud Next Tokyo ’26 event held last week
As Aramaki explained, the process completely relies on the AI to analyze the game screen, understand the situation in-game, and move the controller accordingly. During the presentation, a video was showcased of the AI conducting independent tests by checking the in-game map and controlling the character.
“What our developers needed was not just AI that could chat with them, but an AI that had the ability to listen to the game’s sounds, observe the intricate changes happening on-screen and have full understanding of the situation,” he said. Apparently, the decision to automate the QA process was due to the increasing workload developers at Square Enix had been facing in recent years. According to Aramaki, the company had already started using Google’s AI in order to shorten development cycles and allow the developers to focus more on the creative parts of their work.
Back in June this year, it was announced that Square Enix would be provided subsidies by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in various different areas as part of the government’s IP360 program. Specifically, one of the categories Square Enix will be receiving government funding for is “support for building of development platforms.” On the official website of the IP360 initiative, the project is described as a “next-generation quality check platform that uses AI technology to create a foundation for fully automating the process, from test design to automated QA playtests, graphic bug detection and text verification.” Considering these details, it is very likely that this platform is the aforementioned Gemini-based QA tool.
On a related note, Square Enix has recently been dabbling into many different ways to utilize AI. In April, the company partnered with Google to develop Oshaberi Slimey (Chatty Slimey), a Gemini-powered AI chatbot set to be integrated into Dragon Quest Xin the role of the player’s support character. Furthermore, in July, the two companies held an in-person event in Tokyo as another collaboration between the Dragon Quest franchise and Gemini AI. The event was imagined as a real-life treasure hunt, with participants being able to scan certain barcodes to generate spells with AI. All this considered, it seems like Square Enix and Google will likely continue to harness their business partnership through potential new collaborations.
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