Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney criticizes Steam's AI disclosure rules

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says Valve's policy requiring developers to label the use of artificial intelligence on Steam is unfair. Sweeney said these labels create a stigma and make people link the technology to poor-quality games. He argued that developers can make both good and bad games with AI, and that user reviews already allow players to judge a game's quality.

Image: MP1st

Sweeney believes adopting AI is an economic necessity for large-scale developers. He said teams that do not use AI will be unable to compete with peers who can produce games four times more efficiently, a number he expects could reach 10 times more efficiency soon. Epic Games executive vice president of engineering Marcus Wassmer noted that an early Unreal Engine web deployment experiment reached up to 20-fold productivity improvement during its prototype phase.

Reports say nearly 20% of games released on Steam in 2025 disclosed the use of generative AI, which is an 800% increase from the year before.