In a joint press conference this past weekend, Square Enix and Google announced that Dragon Quest X, the MMO entry in the long-running JRPG series, will soon be getting a chatty Slimey chatbot powered by Gemini AI. As reported by Sankei, the two companies forged an agreement to include the technology as a way of conducting research, not to mention onboard new players who haven’t been keeping up with the game since its 2012 launch.
Speaking to Sankei, Square Enix’s head of development, Takashi Anzai, said, “New players won’t feel lonely wondering where to start playing; it will become their own personal companion.” Reportedly, the Slimey (which is one of the most iconic creatures from Dragon Quest) will automatically generate voice lines and respond to inquiries from players. Gemini will be able to analyze on screen information, and the Slimey may even start a conversation when an enemy is defeated or a rare item is picked up.
Yuji Horii, creator and designer of Dragon Quest, added, “AI will have a huge impact on the player experience. I’m confident that it will fundamentally change all games in the next three to five years.” He intends to utilize Gemini for NPC characters in Dragon Quest X, though it seems like he also wants to employ it in other games in the series. To that end, Dragon Quest X will need to connect with Google Cloud to utilize this AI technology.
This follows on from a report last year which claimed Square Enix intended to replace 70% of its QA team with generative AI by the end of 2027. The company also entered a partnership with the Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory at the University of Tokyo to further develop AI technology in regard to game development.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
