Valve says it will not ban AI games from Steam

Valve will not ban games made with AI from Steam, according to Steam Business Team member Tom Giardino. During a Q&A at the Steam Indie Connect event in South Korea on October 28, Giardino said the company does not want to be gatekeepers regarding which tools developers use. While Valve asks creators to reveal their usage of artificial intelligence technologies, the company intends to focus on making Steam a smarter platform rather than limiting access.

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Addressing concerns about "AI slop" and low-quality games at Steam Next Fest, Marc Wilkinson said a significant number of Valve staff are working to solve visibility issues on the storefront. Wilkinson explained that Next Fest visibility is based on randomized exposure for the first two days to ensure fairness and prevent large developers from abusing the system. After the first two days, the system switches to personalized recommendations. Wilkinson acknowledged that this system results in some low-quality games receiving exposure.

Giardino also addressed reports of creators receiving extortion messages from bad actors demanding money and threatening to publish unauthorized copies beforehand. He said Valve will investigate these cases if they are reported to the company, though he noted that extortion is primarily an issue for law enforcement. He advised developers to combat clones by building community trust and continuously improving their games through new features.