{"id":70682,"date":"2026-08-07T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=70682"},"modified":"2026-08-06T17:19:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T08:19:23","slug":"apathy-visual-novel-series-creator-takiya-iijima-shares-positive-stance-on-ai-in-indie-development-after-new-titles-trailer-garners-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/apathy-visual-novel-series-creator-takiya-iijima-shares-positive-stance-on-ai-in-indie-development-after-new-titles-trailer-garners-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Apathy visual novel series creator Takiya Iijima shares positive stance on AI in indie development after new title\u2019s trailer garners controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Takiya Iijima (also known as Takeo Iijima), the Japanese developer behind titles such as Gakkou De Atta Kowai Hanashi and the Apathy series of visual novels, recently came under scrutiny from fans regarding a promotional video for a mysterious new Apathy entry, which was first teased on August 1. After initially dodging the topic, Iijima revealed that the video was indeed created by generative AI and shared his stance on the technology (as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespark.jp\/article\/2026\/08\/03\/170139.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Game*Spark<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u300e\u30a2\u30d1\u30b7\u30fc\u3000\u5b66\u6821\u3067\u3042\u3063\u305f\u6016\u3044\u8a71\u300f\u6700\u65b0\u4f5c\u3001\u92ed\u610f\u5236\u4f5c\u4e2d\u3002<br>\u672c\u90a6\u521d\u516c\u958b\u306e\u60c5\u5831\u53ca\u3073\u6620\u50cf\u3068\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002<br>\u6c34\u9762\u4e0b\u3067\u5236\u4f5c\u3057\u3066\u304a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fFoAaNRzKZ\">pic.twitter.com\/fFoAaNRzKZ<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u98ef\u5cf6\u591a\u7d00\u54c9(\u98ef\u5cf6\u5065\u7537) (@araninotomo) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/araninotomo\/status\/2083409104954122268?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 1, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/araninotomo\/status\/2084093955785015632?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">As Iijima sees it<\/a>, generative AI allows him to \u201calmost perfectly\u201d create visuals with the exact casting he envisioned (the trailer is generated in a live-action style). His statement then turns to indie development, with him saying he wants to \u201cdo what he wants to do\u201d for the remainder of his life. \u201cI\u2019ll release the name game under 7Korobi8Korogari (his indie studio) as an indie game for less than 1,000 JPY, so I won\u2019t be causing any trouble for the major labels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iijima also addressed issues such as copyright concerns regarding generative AI training and the rights of actors and illustrators <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/-wV9hYUhEsA?si=TxDRhfpl_ZkWRdow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in his livestream<\/a>, as Game*Spark reports. The developer said that he \u201cconfirmed that the copyright issues were cleared,\u201d and he is commercially using multiple AI tools at a cost of several hundred thousand yen per month. These AI tools are apparently being trained using his studio\u2019s own copyrighted works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In terms of the creation process, Iijima had this to say: \u201cWe are certainly not just slapping things together with the press of a button; we spend time meticulously fine-tuning prompts to build character images from scratch based on the vision in our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also mentions that using AI tools allows him to create entertaining content at an affordable price of under 1,000 JPY with just one or two people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iijima expressed his desire to experiment more with AI-assisted creation in the indie gaming space, with no plans to use the technology for home consoles (the latter of which has major publishers and numerous stakeholders who are stricter about AI use). On the other hand, Iijima emphasizes that he maintains a clear distinction on when to use generative AI tools, as the script for the upcoming Apathy sequel will be written entirely by him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new Apathy game is currently in development.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/atelier-ryza-ai-chat-rpg-announced-developers-promise-no-ai-generated-artwork-and-fair-revenue-sharing-with-voice-actors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Atelier Ryza \u201cAI chat RPG\u201d announced. Developers promise \u201cno AI-generated artwork\u201d and fair revenue sharing with voice actors&nbsp;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/evangelion-and-danganronpa-star-megumi-ogata-says-she-is-heartbroken-over-unauthorized-ai-voice-generation-why-cant-japan-establish-content-guidelines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Evangelion and Danganronpa star Megumi Ogata says she is \u201cheartbroken\u201d over unauthorized AI voice generation. \u201cWhy can\u2019t Japan establish content guidelines?\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iijima revealed on August 1 that a new Apathy title was in the works, unveiling an AI-generated, live-action-style trailer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":70707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3],"tags":[67,17],"class_list":["post-70682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie-games","category-news","tag-ai","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - 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