Square Enix Says Controversial Kingdom Hearts Collection Art Was the Result of 'Human Error,' Not Generative AI
The controversial key art for Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 did not contain any AI-generated materials and was actually the result of "human error," according to a new statement from Square Enix.
Fans have been trying to unlock the mystery behind some strange and concerning art posted by the publisher since it was revealed in June. The illustration in question arrived alongside the reveal that Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 would soon come to PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S, but it didn't take long for players to notice a few worrying details.
Social media posts following the announcement quickly took aim at the chain on Mickey Mouse's Keyblade, the hands on the Traverse Town clocktower, and the details on the bottom of Sora's shoes. The real canary in the coal mine, though, were Donald Duck's hands, with one featuring four fingers, while the other featured five. These supposed pieces of evidence had fans believing Square Enix used artificial intelligence to generate additional details for an existing art piece, but the publisher has finally chimed in to refute these claims.
This appears Ai generated or Ai enhanced, can you make a statement regarding this? Very disappointed to see this. pic.twitter.com/IMhwrhB0Y3— Vexmyx (@vexmyx) June 9, 2026
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This appears Ai generated or Ai enhanced, can you make a statement regarding this? Very disappointed to see this. pic.twitter.com/IMhwrhB0Y3
In a statement shared with GameSpot, a Square Enix representative said that the publisher has heard the feedback and made changes where necessary. More importantly, though, the message stated that no genAI was used for any version of the image.
"We’re aware of feedback regarding recent Kingdom Hearts visuals," the Square Enix spokesperson told the site via phone call. "These assets were created by our development team without the use of generative AI, and the issues resulted from human error.
"Quality is extremely important to us, and updated assets have been implemented where appropriate."
Square Enix did not clarify how the art came to be in the first place. Additionally, as mentioned by GameSpot, the updated art does seem to have fixed Donald's hand, but other details, such as that muddy-looking clocktower and Sora's shoes, remain. Either way, not everyone is happy with the explanation.
"We’ve found so much of the art that was retrofitted to make the image that I dunno if anyone was arguing that the whole image was AI. It’s just sloppy and bad," one fan on Reddit said.
"They might as well just scrap this and make new cover art at this point," another added. "Even if it's not AI-generated, it's definitely one of the worst KH cover arts. The composition just looks lazy."
"It was definitely AI," one X/Twitter user suggested. "I love Kingdom Hearts and Square Enix but come on. There's two versions of the picture, one where the characters are separated and one where they're not, and the one where they're not is obvious they used AI for it, which caused it to make extra fingers."
Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 comes to PC, Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S October 8, 2026. In the meantime, you can see the latest on Kingdom Hearts 4, which reappeared shortly after the collection was announced.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).