Foamstars Release Date Revealed; Dev Confirms Game Contains Some AI Art

Foamstars, a live service shooter by Square Enix, now has a release date following its initial reveal at the PlayStation Showcase in May last year. Thanks to a new trailer uploaded online, we now know that the game will be launched on February 6, 2024, exclusively for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. And that’s not it; Foamstars can be written off as free-to-play, given how it’ll be part of the PS Plus monthly games catalog at the time of its release.

“All PlayStation Plus members can redeem the title from February 6, 2024 to March 4, 2024 at no extra cost. Foamstars will become available for purchase for $29.99 for all PlayStation players from March 5, 2024,” reads the disclaimer text at the end of the aforementioned trailer. Best not to miss the opportunity while it’s available at hand.

I think the decision to do this was pretty smart from the side of the developers, considering how its open beta impressions were fairly lukewarm, and fan interest didn’t glow as much as Square would’ve wanted it to. Now that it’s actually free to redeem for PlayStation Plus members, which should be, like, the vast majority of PS5 or PS4 users, the shooter has a much better chance at acquiring its very own fandom. 

Elsewhere, it’s been brought to notice that Foamstars will contain AI-generated art to some extent, as the game’s producer Kosuke Okatani told VGC at a recent press event. However, clarifying things on that matter, Okatani said that AI was only employed to produce abstract images for Foamstars’ album covers “for the music featured in the [game’s] soundtrack.” The rest is via the old, hard, hand-made way. 

All of the core elements in Foamstars, the core gameplay, and the things that make the game enjoyable, those are all made by hand. However, we did want to experiment with AI as well. In terms of the content in the game, this makes up about 0.01% or even less, but we have dabbled in it by creating these icons in the game.”

Related Content to Check Out: 

• Official Foamstars News Is About To Drop; Release Date Reveal Is Expected
• PlayStation Releases New Trailer For Top Games Coming In 2024
• Square Enix Reveals It Is Going To Focus On More AAA Titles Moving Forward

For those who missed it, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu in a New Year letter revealed that the company plans on gravitating toward “aggressive AI use.” The industry is currently riled up with the subject of AI, as the topic remains highly controversial for multiple reasons, may it be replacing human workers with their jobs or other ethical concerns.