A humorous collaboration with popular manga artists and Final Fantasy XIV should be an easy win, but Square Enix has been forced to apologize and remove one of its participants following some controversy. On Jan. 24, FFXIV’s Japanese Twitter/X account posted an apology and notice that it had removed one of the manga artists due to “inappropriate expressions.”
The removal came following a collaboration campaign that launched on Jan. 22, showcasing popular manga artists creating comics about their experience with FFXIV. That campaign featured several creators, including Pop Team Epic, Bkub Okawa, Usogui author Toshio Sako, and slice-of-life artist Arnolds Hasegawa.
But the campaign was thrown into controversy over comments made by the fourth collaborator, manga artist Nuko-Sama. Nuko-Sama, the creator of “Hitomishiri Senyou Kateikyoushi Sakamocchan” or “Sakamocchan, The Private Tutor For Shy Kids,” had reportedly disparaged both FFXIV and its players in the now-deleted comic. According to a description of the comic on Siliconera, it featured a character “becoming interested in the game and playing it after her friends convince her to try it, despite her initial negative first impression.”
However, other posts seemingly suggest criticism of the manga artist goes beyond just the subject matter of their comic for the collaboration. The artist has been vocal about their support of AI-generated art, posting some of it on their social media. Beyond this, accusations about their past conduct, which involve allegedly verbally abusing writers and artists on other projects were highlighted.
After the removal of the comic, Square Enix published an apology on social media. As per a translation on Twitter/X: “We would like to apologize for the fact that some people may feel uncomfortable due to the campaign posts by a particular manga artist we used for this campaign. I am sorry.”
“We have reviewed and considered the feedback we received, and have withdrawn the campaign post from the official FFXIV SNS because the manga artist in question contained inappropriate expressions.”
The remaining comics remain on FFXIV’s Japanese socials, and a gift campaign that accompanies the promotion will continue.
