Square Enix has addressed criticism surrounding the North American box art for Kingdom Hearts Collection [I~III], after fans spotted an apparent mistake in Donald Duck’s hand and questioned whether generative AI had been used.
The collection is set to bring the existing Kingdom Hearts trilogy to Nintendo players through Switch 2. Its new artwork differs from Tetsuya Nomura’s earlier composition, which placed the characters together near the centre. In the revised design, the characters are spread apart, leaving previously hidden details visible.
Why fans suspected generative AI
One of those newly exposed details was Donald Duck’s left hand. Viewers believed it showed the wrong number of fingers compared with his other hand, prompting speculation that an AI tool may have been used to generate or extend parts of the altered composition.
Hey so why does donald duck have different numbers of fingers on each hand pic.twitter.com/WGuHxBwZdY
— RJ Palmer@Gen Con AS-90 (June 9, 2026)
Square Enix says generative AI was not involved. A public relations representative said the visuals were produced by the development team and that the disputed details were the result of human error.
Artwork updated before launch
The earlier version featuring five-fingered Donald has since been removed from Square Enix’s promotional materials ahead of the collection’s October 8 release. The original X post that drew attention to the artwork remains available.
Square Enix also said that quality is highly important to the company and that updated assets have been introduced where appropriate. The clarification comes as the publisher has otherwise expressed strong enthusiasm for the potential of generative AI to improve production efficiency.
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