TheRetroArcade
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Joined: Feb 2026
Steam Next Fest is being flooded with thousands of low-effort games, while developers are becoming reluctant to share their work for fear of seeing it quickly cloned.
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The rise of AI slop is a real problem for Steam. Developers are growing wary of sharing their concepts and demos for fear of them being cloned, while Next Fest events meant to showcase upcoming games are being choked by literally thousands of demos hastily cranked out by 'developers' who are throwing everything imaginable at the wall in hopes that something will stick.
Speaking at the Steam Indie Connect event in Busan, South Korea, Valve's Tom Giardino and Marc Wilkinson acknowledged the problem, which as reported by Inven Global included at least one instance of a developer reporting extortion threats: "If you don't pay, we'll clone your game with AI and release it first." But the pair suggested that Valve isn't really in a position to do much about it, at least as far as regulating what is and isn't allowed on the platform. "We don't want to be gatekeepers telling developers which tools they should or shouldn't use," Giardino said.
Noting that games were being cloned long before AI came on the scene—just at a much slower pace—Giardino suggested that developers can protect their work by first building a strong community around it, and then focusing on continual improvements: "Rather than relying on a single mechanic that someone can easily copy, you need to keep growing your game by adding features, personality, and creativity that stem from your own perspective."
Valve's approach to the deluge of AI games flooding the Steam Next Fest is similar. Wilkinson said that during the first two days of the event, Steam users are shown games virtually randomly—but after that, the platform starts making personalized recommendations, showing users games they're more likely to enjoy. The goal of that early randomization, he explained, is to give every developer a fair shot at visibility, before drilling down into actual preferences.
"We recognize that the trade-off is some low-quality games get exposed," Wilkinson said. "We are fully aware of the situation, and a significant number of people are thinking about how to solve this problem."
It is a problem—this SteamDB chart of Steam game releases by year very clearly illustrates why:
Nearly 23,000 games have been released on Steam in 2026 alone, and it's not even November yet. Most of them are garbo, irrespective of the role AI played in their development, but it's still an incredible mass of videogames that users and developers alike have to wrestle with. It may not be an issue for major studios releasing big name games, but for the person plugging away on what might potentially be the next Animal Well, Balatro, or Vampire Survivors, the risk of being swept away in a flood of low-effort slop and clones is inescapable.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Israel Mallén of Digital Suns Games, which cancelled a planned Moonlighter demo on Steam over worries that it would be cloned, recently suggested that storefronts like Steam could help combat unethical game cloning by giving developers "more tools to vet who gets access [to pre-release builds], like account age, playtime or review history."
But while Valve is grappling with the problem, it doesn't sound like major changes of that sort are imminent: Giardino acknowledged that "there's plenty of room for improvement" but said, "Rather than limiting developer access, making Steam a smarter and more dynamic platform is the starting point of our philosophy."
Steam sale dates: When's the next event?Epic Store free games: What's free right now?Free PC games: The best freebies you can grab2026 games: This year's upcoming releasesFree Steam games: No purchase necessary
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the v...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
The rise of AI slop is a real problem for Steam. Developers are growing wary of sharing their concepts and demos for fear of them being cloned, while Next Fest events meant to showcase upcoming games are being choked by literally thousands of demos hastily cranked out by 'developers' who are throwing everything imaginable at the wall in hopes that something will stick.
Speaking at the Steam Indie Connect event in Busan, South Korea, Valve's Tom Giardino and Marc Wilkinson acknowledged the problem, which as reported by Inven Global included at least one instance of a developer reporting extortion threats: "If you don't pay, we'll clone your game with AI and release it first." But the pair suggested that Valve isn't really in a position to do much about it, at least as far as regulating what is and isn't allowed on the platform. "We don't want to be gatekeepers telling developers which tools they should or shouldn't use," Giardino said.
Noting that games were being cloned long before AI came on the scene—just at a much slower pace—Giardino suggested that developers can protect their work by first building a strong community around it, and then focusing on continual improvements: "Rather than relying on a single mechanic that someone can easily copy, you need to keep growing your game by adding features, personality, and creativity that stem from your own perspective."
Valve's approach to the deluge of AI games flooding the Steam Next Fest is similar. Wilkinson said that during the first two days of the event, Steam users are shown games virtually randomly—but after that, the platform starts making personalized recommendations, showing users games they're more likely to enjoy. The goal of that early randomization, he explained, is to give every developer a fair shot at visibility, before drilling down into actual preferences.
"We recognize that the trade-off is some low-quality games get exposed," Wilkinson said. "We are fully aware of the situation, and a significant number of people are thinking about how to solve this problem."
It is a problem—this SteamDB chart of Steam game releases by year very clearly illustrates why:
Nearly 23,000 games have been released on Steam in 2026 alone, and it's not even November yet. Most of them are garbo, irrespective of the role AI played in their development, but it's still an incredible mass of videogames that users and developers alike have to wrestle with. It may not be an issue for major studios releasing big name games, but for the person plugging away on what might potentially be the next Animal Well, Balatro, or Vampire Survivors, the risk of being swept away in a flood of low-effort slop and clones is inescapable.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Israel Mallén of Digital Suns Games, which cancelled a planned Moonlighter demo on Steam over worries that it would be cloned, recently suggested that storefronts like Steam could help combat unethical game cloning by giving developers "more tools to vet who gets access [to pre-release builds], like account age, playtime or review history."
But while Valve is grappling with the problem, it doesn't sound like major changes of that sort are imminent: Giardino acknowledged that "there's plenty of room for improvement" but said, "Rather than limiting developer access, making Steam a smarter and more dynamic platform is the starting point of our philosophy."
Steam sale dates: When's the next event?Epic Store free games: What's free right now?Free PC games: The best freebies you can grab2026 games: This year's upcoming releasesFree Steam games: No purchase necessary
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the v...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?