After being rumored to ban AI games on Steam, Valve is now clarifying the ban by saying that they are not “banning its use on Steam” as long as it falls within the current copyright policy.
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Valve Clarifies AI Games Ban on Steam
A week ago, Valve reportedly no longer accepts AI games on Steam. This news was first reported by an AI game developer who shared their rejection letter on Reddit almost a month ago.
The Reddit user isn’t the only developer to see their AI content blocked by Valve. Jake Birkett also quoted a reliable source on Twitter, where Valve has the same rules for AI artificial text and art.
Now, Valve has clarified its views on AI-generated content by saying that it is not “banning its use on Steam” but is “looking at ways to integrate this into existing review policies”.
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, a Valve spokesperson said:
We continue to learn about AI, the ways it can be used in game development, and how to incorporate it into the review process of games submitted for distribution on Steam. Our priority, as always, is to try to submit as many game titles as we receive. The introduction of AI can sometimes make it difficult for developers to demonstrate that they have sufficient rights in using AI to create assets, including images, text and music. In particular, there is some legal uncertainty relating to the data used to train AI models. It is the developer’s responsibility to ensure that they have the appropriate rights to deliver their game.
We know that this is an evolving technology and our goal is not to prevent its use on Steam; rather, we’re looking at ways to integrate it into our existing review policy. In other words, our review process is a reflection of current copyright law and policy, not an addition to our opinions. As these laws and policies evolve, so will our process.
We welcome and encourage innovation, and AI technology will definitely create new and exciting experiences in gaming. While developers can use these AI technologies in their works with appropriate commercial licenses, they cannot infringe on existing copyrights.
Lastly, while application submission credits are usually non-refundable, we are happy to offer them in this case as we continue to work on our review process.
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