Steam users will be well aware that the Steam Next Fest, a multi-year event where the platform celebrates upcoming games with a flurry of demos, is currently underway. Often used by smaller developers to showcase their games, it's a great way to find a hidden gem of an indie title that you might otherwise miss.
Unfortunately, the celebrations have been somewhat dampened this year, mainly due to the influx of AI-generated art being used to promote several games. For example, I checked out the Steam Next Fest and the very second game shown was one of those weird simulator games with AI used as a thumbnail.
Steam Next Fest's rich AI art annoys users and other developers
Understandably, Steam users and developers alike are irritated by Steam's lack of quality control. Palworld's head of publishing and communications said on Twitter (via Kotaku ) that they “don't feel too compelled to try demos with AI art capsules,” while No More Robots' Mike Rose on his BlueSky page calls the amount of AI art used “crazy” and criticizes the store for not disclosing it.
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Of course, Steam users will likely know that Valve changed their rule to try to force developers to disclose the use of AI-generated content in their games, and while it won points at the time, there seem to be little to no consequences for not doing so, as a Reddit user pointed out in a recent thread discussing the flood of AI at Steam Next Fest.
Another user points out that you can get rid of the AI-generated stuff pretty easily by filtering by popularity, but points out that it defeats the whole point of Steam Next Fest and you probably won't find interesting small indie film previews that way. Again, this is a problem with Steam that directly hurts the visibility of indie developers, while the bigger and more lucrative titles barely suffer.
As for the rest of the thread, it's literally full of people complaining about the massive amount of AI generated art and asset flipping currently festering on Steam Next Fest, and it's a problem that doesn't really have a solution. We can only hope that Valve steps in at some point and actually does something with AI art in a more meaningful way, but I wouldn't hold your breath because it's going to happen anytime soon.
- Mark
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Valve
- Original release date
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September 12, 2003
- Original MSRP (USD)
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ON
- Weight
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ON
