Steam Next Fest faces criticism over surge in AI-generated content

The Steam Next Fest is facing significant criticism from indie developers due to a massive influx of playable demos and a rising proportion of games utilizing generative artificial intelligence. The number of available demos has surged to approximately 7,000–8,000, nearly doubling compared to the June event and vastly exceeding the roughly 1,000 demos seen in 2022.

Developers express concern that high-quality, labor-intensive indie projects are being overshadowed by a flood of low-effort, AI-generated content, often referred to as ‘AI slop.’ Data indicates that the proportion of games disclosing the use of AI has risen from approximately 20 percent in June to roughly 33 percent in the current festival.

Beyond concerns regarding quality, there are fears that AI tools are being used to rapidly clone existing game ideas. This trend has led some developers to reconsider releasing demos at all, fearing that their original concepts may be quickly imitated by low-cost, AI-driven prototypes.