Valve Is Aware Of Its Big AI Slop Problem, But Doesn't Want To Be "Gatekeepers"

After Steam Next Fest Was Filled With Slop, Valve Says It Doesn't Want To "Limit" Devs Using Gen AI Published Oct 28, 2026, 8:44 AM EDT George is the Lead News Editor for TheGamer, and has been working in the industry since 2021 after graduating from the University of South Wales with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. He has also previously written for RPG Site, WhatCulture, and PlayStation Lifestyle. George is an expert on platformers, action games, and fighters, but tends to play as many releases as possible. This hands-on experience lets him dive into gaming communities and follow the latest trends. Some of the games George has extensively covered first-hand include Dead Rising, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Ninja Gaiden 4. Sign in to your TheGamer account Two members of Valve’s Steam Business Team have admitted that the developer is aware of the overwhelming number of AI-generated games and is currently trying to think of fixes. As you no doubt know, generative AI is becoming impossible to avoid in the world of video games. It’s being used for decomps, vibecoded mods, and even during the development of many triple-A games. It’s not just big games and “fan-made” projects, though, as digital storefronts are being absolutely blitzed by AI games. Steam has arguably been hit by this harder than anyone else, which became very apparent during this month’s Next Fest. What used to be an event to spotlight exciting and passionately made indie games quickly turned into a tidal wave of outright copycats and low-effort slop. Don't worry too much, though, as Valve is definitely aware of the situation and is looking into what it can do. Valve Says It Knows Steam Is Full Of AI Slop, But That It Doesn’t Want To “Gatekeep” If There Was Ever A Time, It’s Now As highlighted by GamesRadar+, Inven Global was able to talk to Tom Giardino and Marc Wilkinson from Valve’s Steam Business Team during Steam Indie Connect in South Korea. Giardino explained that Valve doesn’t want “to be gatekeepers telling developers which tools they should or shouldn’t use”, and that clones have always been an issue that’s just been sped up by AI. Giardino thinks that developers need to make sure that their game isn’t reliant on a single copyable mechanic and that it has their “own perspective”, which honestly feels like putting it all on the devs. In regard to Next Fest being crowded by AI, Wilkinson noted that was more of a problem in the first few days before more “personalized” recommendations came through. One of the factors that Valve thinks contributes to the problem is that Next Fest is much bigger than it used to be, making it harder to track every single game. That being said, he admitted that by being a bit more random to prevent visibility abuse, the trade-off is that “some low-quality games get exposed”. Wilkinson confirms that Valve is “fully aware of this situation” and that a “significant number of people are thinking about how to solve this problem”. Valve’s Steam Business Team goes on to say that its main goal is to improve the storefront and system instead of “limiting developer access” based on what tools they use. As good as it is that Valve is acknowledging the problem with AI games, its answer might not be quite as brutal or cathartic as many of us were hoping for. Brand Valve Original Release Date September 12, 2003 Original MSRP (USD) N/A Hardware Versions Steam