Article · AI translation
IT Home reported on October 29 that, according to South Korean media outlet Inven, Valve's business team responded to concerns about the recent proliferation of low-quality AI-generated games (“AI slop”) and copycat titles on Steam, as well as the difficulty indie games face in gaining visibility, at the “Steam Indie Connect” developer event held by BIC Festival 2026 in South Korea on October 27.
Valve said it is fully aware of these issues and that many employees are working internally on solutions to low-quality AI games. However, Valve does not intend to address the problem by restricting the tools developers use. Instead, it hopes to further improve Steam's recommendation and game discovery systems, making them smarter and more flexible.
Addressing developers' concerns that the recommendation system for Steam Next Fest may allow low-quality titles to take up visibility, Valve business team member Marc Wilkinson explained that, for the first two days of the event, Steam shows participating games to players entirely at random. Only afterward does it gradually introduce personalized recommendations, suggesting games more closely aligned with players' interests based on their activity records.
Wilkinson said random recommendations are intended to prevent developers from studying loopholes in the algorithm and exploiting the rules to compete for visibility, while ensuring that every participating game has a fair chance to be shown. He acknowledged, however, that the system can give some low-quality titles exposure. Therefore, “developers should keep updating and improving their games, adding new features, a distinct personality and creativity, rather than letting their work rely solely on a gameplay concept that other developers can easily copy”:
Rather than relying on a mechanic that others can easily copy, keep developing your game and adding distinctive features, personality and creativity.
Giardino also noted that Valve's longstanding basic approach to piracy has been to make the legitimate product the best version, rather than simply adopting tough anti-piracy measures. He believes the same principle applies to AI copycat games.
As for cases of “using copied games to carry out extortion,” Giardino believes such incidents are closer to matters for law enforcement agencies to handle. He stressed, however, that Valve will not simply pass the problem to other organizations: it is willing to investigate individual cases submitted by developers and provide assistance where feasible.