LEVEL-5, the legendary studio behind Dark Cloud, Ni no Kuni, and the entire Professor Layton series, has sparked fan concern with its latest presentation. The once-beloved developer is now openly embracing "shoddy AI content," with the newly announced remake of Professor Layton and the Curious Village at the center of the controversy.
At the Nintendo Direct on September 9, the long-delayed Professor Layton and the Steam New World was finally revealed for the first time. Just about 24 hours later, LEVEL-5 held its own live streaming event titled "LEVEL5 VISION 2026 II: Dreams."
The presentation was supposed to be a major victory for the studio—it not only released the first full trailer for DecaPolice but also announced a remake of the original Professor Layton game. However, as soon as the event ended, it immediately drew backlash from LEVEL-5 fans.
Fans raised concerns about "shoddy AI production," partly due to the strange art style of CEO Akihiro Hino's animated avatar during the presentation, but more importantly, fans pointed out that every game showcased had multiple telltale signs of suspected AI usage.
This is no exaggeration. Yo-kai Watch 2: Spectral Forces faced criticism for inconsistent background art and abrupt changes in the protagonist's facial features; Inazuma Eleven: Bold Revolution was criticized for stiff and rigid character animations, labeled as "excessive AI use"; the remake of Professor Layton and the Curious Village was accused of having AI-generated backgrounds with inconsistent styles; and DecaPolice is suspected of suffering from all the above issues, with even more signs of AI generation.
Of course, none of these claims have been confirmed yet. To be honest, considering that hand-drawn backgrounds and characters are one of the core selling points of the Professor Layton series, I would be very surprised if LEVEL-5 were foolish enough to use generative AI to create this game.
But fans scrutinizing every LEVEL-5 game aren't entirely without cause. According to a report last year by Famitsu (translated by Automaton), LEVEL-5's CEO and President Akihiro Hino made some concerning remarks about AI applications while addressing applicants for Japan's top game creator academy program.
Akihiro Hino stated, "Currently, about 80% to 90% of the code is written by AI, then corrected and finalized by human programmers. In other words, AI is currently involved in roughly 80% to 90% of game development. And this isn't limited to programming—AI technology is being extensively integrated into art, music, and even game design. Needless to say, leveraging AI to boost productivity has become the norm in the creative industry."
Oh, and back in 2023, LEVEL-5 publicly admitted to using ChatGPT for character design and generating background art in Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road. Tsk, it's hard to imagine that this studio once collaborated with Studio Ghibli.