Valve tells Steam developers to build communities, not expect action on AI clones

Valve has reportedly said it does not plan hands-on measures against developers using AI to quickly clone successful or upcoming games on Steam. The comments came at the Busan Indie Connect Festival Organizing Committee developer conference in South Korea, according to Game Developer, which cites reporting by InvenGlobal.

Valve business team members Tom Giardino and Marc Wilkinson were asked whether Steam had measures in place or planned against AI cloning. The developer who asked said they had received an email threatening to clone their game with AI and release it first. Giardino suggested this was a matter for law enforcement rather than Valve, but seemed hesitant to commit to more than Valve's resources in helping with that.

Giardino reportedly said, "We don't want to be gatekeepers telling developers which tools they should or shouldn't use." Instead, he suggested developers make their games less likely to be copied. He pointed to building active communities and establishing trust, so that people prefer the original when copies appear. He also reportedly argued that complex games are harder to copy. Game Developer notes that InvenGlobal's reporting was machine translated but verified with an independent native speaker.

The concern is not limited to one region or genre. Digital Sun Games, developer of the Moonlighter series, is delaying a public playtest of its next game, ReVamp, out of fear that one or more AI clones will beat the studio to launch.

The stance fits Valve's approach since 2018, when it adopted a policy of allowing all games onto Steam except those it decides are illegal or straight-up trolling. Erik Johnson of Valve described that policy at the time. Game Developer says it has asked Valve for additional comment and will update its story on a response.