Final Fantasy’s Koji Sugimoto Slams PS1-Style Low-Poly Nostalgia as “Abhorrent”

Koji Sugimoto, a veteran Square Enix programmer who worked on games like Final Fantasy X and Xenogears, has publicly criticized the modern trend of intentionally recreating low-poly, PlayStation-era graphics. He made these comments in a 2019 social post and reiterated similar views more recently while discussing tools that automate texture distortion for retro looks.

Who Sugimoto is and what he worked on.
His 2019 and later comments opposing nostalgia-driven low-poly graphics.
Context about why developers originally used low-poly art, plus translations of his language.

What Sugimoto posted

Sugimoto wrote about the trend on social media in 2019, saying, “I spent a lot of futile effort and computation time to avoid it,” and, “The idea of finding it interesting to reproduce doesn’t occur to me.” He later commented again when a game engine feature aimed to make texture distortion easier was announced, saying, “Back then, we went to great lengths to avoid distortions, but now they’re being called ‘flavor’ or something.”

当時は虚しい苦労を費やして歪みを回避していたのに、今では「味わい」とか言われてしまっている。 https://t.co/r90BkvvUAq
— Koji Sugimoto (@k_sugimoto) August 5, 2025

Exact wording and translations

According to machine-translation comparisons, Google’s output rendered Sugimoto’s adjective as **”abhorrent,”** while another system, Grok, translated it as an **”object of disdain.”** Those different translations reflect the same basic point: he expressed strong negative feelings about intentionally reproducing the distortions associated with older console graphics.

Why that matters

Sugimoto’s comments are notable because he worked on games during the era now being emulated. Therefore, his view adds a perspective from people who originally tried to *avoid* the visual artifacts that modern developers sometimes recreate on purpose. Furthermore, his statements came up again in response to a specific engine feature that would automate texture warping, which shows the comment applies to current tooling as well.

Context on low-poly nostalgia

Historically, low-poly and distorted textures were the result of hardware limits. Developers worked within those limits to deliver playable games, and many of the quirks were artifacts rather than aesthetic choices. Today, some creators deliberately use similar effects to evoke that era. Sugimoto’s stance contrasts with those developers, offering a firsthand viewpoint from someone who tried to eliminate those visual flaws when they were a constraint rather than a choice.

Bottom line

Sugimoto has publicly criticized the recreation of PlayStation-era low-poly visuals, first in 2019 and again more recently when discussing engine features that simplify making those effects. His comments are direct, and machine translations of his wording range from “abhorrent” to “object of disdain.”