We’ll see how players react.
Steam Next Fest has come around again, and this season, players may have some extra reason to look closely at the labels for whatever demos they test out. Eurogamer found that on the SteamDB database, 1,704 of the 8,700 titles listed as participants in the event have been tagged as having used generative AI. To do the math for you, that’s 19.5 percent or just shy of a fifth of the games included in the showcase.
The high prevalence is a bit surprising considering how many already released games have seen backlash from players when gen AI materials have been discovered. Many indie game leaders have also been particularly hawkish about when and how AI is used in development. Valve initially updated its guidelines around AI use in games sold on Steam in 2024. While that change allowed more usage of the tech, it did add requirements for devs to inform players about when they’ve applied gen AI. The company now allows for “efficiency gains” to not warrant the AI label, which could explain why one of the more common scandals for developers has been using AI-generated assets that aren’t replaced before launch. That happened with breakout hit Crimson Desert earlier this year. However, even some titles that embraced AI from the start, like Arc Raiders, have made changes to reduce their use of the tech in recent months.
