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Level 5 CEO Apologizes for AI Footage in Vision 2026 II Dream Stream

Hino's statement draws a line between AI used in a marketing stream and AI in shipped games, but the criticism landed on a character demo for Inazuma Eleven: Revolution of Flames that viewers read as AI-made, so the apology addresses a presentation problem rather than the release pipeline.

Key Facts

  • Level 5 streamed the online presentation LEVEL5 VISION 2026 II Dream on September 10, and president and CEO Akihiro Hino posted his statement about it on X on September 12.
  • Hino said AI in the presentation was used out of a desire to make it flashy, and apologized to users who felt uncomfortable.
  • Hino said Level 5 creates scenarios, character designs, and basic settings for its titles by human hands, and stated that cheap AI output data will not be included in released games.
  • Hino said Level 5 is testing ways to cut development of major titles from five years to two by using AI mainly to digitize human-made assets such as polygon models.

Reporting from 4 sources: Anime News Network, Automaton, GameBusiness.jp, Game Spark.

Level 5 CEO Apologizes for AI Footage in Vision 2026 II Dream Stream

Level 5 president and CEO Akihiro Hino posted a statement on his X account on September 12 explaining and apologizing for the use of AI in footage shown during the online presentation LEVEL5 VISION 2026 II Dream, which streamed on September 10. Hino wrote that he incorporated cutting-edge AI, including processing that doubled as an experiment, out of a desire to make the presentation flashy, and apologized to users who felt uncomfortable. He said scenarios, character designs, and basic world-building for Level 5 titles are all created by human hands, and that AI is mainly used to digitize human-made assets such as polygon models. He stated that cheap AI output data will not be included in the games that are released. Hino also said the company is testing ways to shorten development of major titles from five years to two. Criticism came from users in Japan and overseas, and some in Japan noted that Yo-kai Watch 2: Hadou footage differed in details such as character faces from what appeared in the previous day's Nintendo Direct 2026.9.9.

Hino's statement went further than the initial concerns, arguing that AI efficiency has freed creators to spend time on what he calls the essence of creation, and that the resulting products are turning out more satisfying to users than before. He said the company is in a stage of struggling through trial and error on the plan to cut development time for major titles from five years to two. He closed by asking audiences to look forward to the next Level 5 presentation.

The footage that drew the strongest reaction centered on Inazuma Eleven: Revolution of Flames. A new character, Nagi Furuhoshi, appears as the protagonist of the main story, and viewers sensed AI-like qualities in a scene where the character juggles a soccer ball. The complaints focused on the unnatural way the ball appeared from off-screen and on a distinctive art style.

The presentation ran nearly an hour and streamed from 10:00 p.m. on September 10. It included a making-of video for Professor Layton and the Curious Village and a preview of the Level 5 Tokyo Game Show 2026 booth. The full stream is on the Level 5 YouTube channel with English and Simplified Chinese subtitles.

This is not Hino's first public comment on generative AI. In December 2025 he wrote that AI, if used correctly, enriches the world of creativity, and that it is a tool for people to make works. Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road of Heroes, originally planned for 2018, went through repeated delays before its November 2025 release.

Synthesized by Yomimono from the 4 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.

Level-5 Akihiro Hino

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