I’m an avid participant in Steam’s big Next Fest event, and have been so for years. It’s a time when I pile headlong into a thick stack of demos, exploring my wishlist and seeing what’s coming soon that I might be interested in. This year, my vibe was all about post-apocalyptic titles, and to whet my appetite, I installed no fewer than ten demos to try out.
Unfortunately, my exploration through the depths of Steam’s thousands of demos marketed through Next Fest was heavily marred by a plague of generative AI. From cover images to bodies of text, and from promotional videos to literal entire games, generative AI is being pushed down my throat from all angles by Valve, inadvertently or not.
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Generative AI is Everywhere in Steam Next Fest
Steam Next Fest is a wonderful thing. It allows tiny developers to have their games merchandised across Valve’s front page, and it’s a time for users to explore what could be their next favorite title. Many developers will prepare exclusive, limited-time demo access specifically for Next Fest, making it even more of a special time for all involved.
I’ve installed a few curious titles that fit my niche perfectly during this go-around Steam Next Fest, including:
- Iron Wasteland, a post-apocalyptic game set aboard an ever-moving train.
- Last Alive, a bare-bones first-person shooter in a world overrun by zombies.
- Online: 404, an open-world survival title which challenges even veterans of the genre.
- The Refuge, a PvE, post-apocalyptic extraction game with ever-increasing difficulty.
This is just a pinprick in the vast gulf of the thousands of demos available, I’m aware, but I’m only one man, and my schedule is already tighter than a gnat’s chuff.
Unfortunately, as I probe through the annals of Steam Next Fest, I find myself picking out countless examples of generative AI. In some cases, entire store pages are bursting at the seams with the most blatant, unashamed gen-AI assets imaginable.
I give you Exhibit A:
Legacy Code: Relic Restorer is a bizarre game from Zeng Zizhao and Zero-G Studios, and the opening trailer that you see in the image above, the cover image, and the text all over the page are all 100% generative AI. In the AI Generated Content Disclosure on the page, it’s written:
The game uses AI voice generation tools to create audio voiceovers for partial narrative texts and dialogue.
It’s as deceptive as it gets, because the game looks nothing like you’d expect from the promotional material available, and even the visuals for the base gameplay loop are created via AI:
But this isn’t an exceptional case, as I was directed to or recommended several games in Steam Next Fest with AI-backed assets plastered all over them.
How about this low-effort, low-poly asset flip (which are ten a penny these days), which uses generative AI for the cover art and the description used to promote the game? This is the most common example I’ve seen on Steam.
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In another recommendation, I found Colonies of the Remnant, a post-apocalyptic shooter that has awful reviews, reports that the game is nothing like the screenshots on the Steam page, and generative AI assets everywhere. The promotional banners, header image, and in-game narrative sequences are all produced via artificial intelligence, and not even good AI:
The expected AI disclaimer for this game was the usual affair: We use AI-assisted tools to generate a small portion of in-game visual and audio assets.
Unfortunately, this is fast becoming the norm for small games on Steam. According to SteamDB, 21,419 games were released on Steam last year, averaging 58 new games every day. This year is pacing ahead, as we’ve hit 11,044 games with half the year left.
Shovelware, ‘scam games’, asset flips, and yes, gen-AI titles are running wild on Steam, but is it something Valve should actively police, or is the disclaimer enough? Should it matter that a game is riddled with gen-AI assets, content, and audio, provided it states that fact on the store page?
I appreciate that it allows small or solo developers to iterate faster and produce assets, like promotional art, that they might not otherwise be able to without paying someone, but it’s the biggest turn-off imaginable these days.
Let us know what you’re thinking on the Insider Gaming Discord server. Is there a deeper concern here, or should we all just get on with our lives and let it grow?
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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