"Stellar Blade" Producer Allegedly Shares AI-Generated Congratulatory Image, Mistakenly Blacklists "NieR" Modeler, Issues Public Apology

A congratulatory image has plunged Stellar Blade director Kim Hyung-tae into a murky and contentious controversy.

The incident began when Kim Hyung-tae posted a congratulatory image on social media — celebrating a new Neon Genesis Evangelion project written by Yoko Taro. The moment it went up, a wave of users questioned: wasn't this image AI-generated?

Before the skepticism could die down, the situation took a sharp turn. NieR: Automata modeler Matsushita Yoshikaze publicly stated that he recognized the traces of his own work in the suspected AI-generated image, and that the feeling of seeing it repurposed without consent left him deeply uncomfortable.

What truly set the industry ablaze, however, was what happened next: Matsushita Yoshikaze was promptly blocked by Kim Hyung-tae. The move ignited outrage across both developer communities and player groups, with criticism pouring in from all sides.

Facing mounting public pressure, Kim Hyung-tae issued an official response today. He explained that the block was not intentional, but the result of an operational error while using the "Blue Blocker" filtering tool, which caused some followers to be accidentally blocked — Matsushita Yoshikaze among them.

Kim Hyung-tae emphasized that he would never block someone simply for holding a different view on artistic style, and stated that anyone who finds themselves blocked need only let him know and he will address it immediately, offering a sincere apology for any inconvenience caused.

As for whether the congratulatory image was actually AI-generated, Kim Hyung-tae did not directly address the question in his response — which is perhaps the one central issue in this controversy that remains unresolved.