One signal

Update

What changed

Kotaku says some indie developers have received messages demanding money to prevent AI clones of their games appearing alongside the originals. Valve representative Tom Giardino said he had not heard of those cases and suggested developers take them to law enforcement, according to Kotaku’s account of the event.

The report also adds detail about Steam Next Fest’s recommendations. Marc Wilkinson said demos are shown randomly during the first two days, then suggestions are curated around players’ preferences from the third day. He argued that coverage of a flood of low-quality demos was based on those opening days.

Kotaku says the festival had twice as many demos as the previous event. That gives Valve’s comments more context, but leaves a sharp gap between its account of discovery and developers’ experience of being threatened over AI clones.

Sources and evidence

• Valve Knows Steam Has An AI Slop Problem And Has A 'Significant Number Of People' Working On It – Kotaku: Kotaku reports that indie developers have received demands for money to prevent AI clones of their games; Valve representative Tom Giardino said he had not heard of the cases and suggested law enforcement, while another Valve representative described Steam Next Fest’s recommendation schedule.

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