Today Valve announced that the rules on its Steam digital marketplace regarding games that utilize generative AI are changing.
The change has been announced in an official post and Valve claims that it has been made after "spending the last few months learning more about this space and talking with game developers."
It will enable the marketplace to accept the "vast majority" of games that use generative AI.
To that end, the survey developers have to submit will now include an AI disclosure section in which they will need to describe how the technology is used within the following broad categories.
- Pre-Generated: Any kind of content (art/code/sound/etc) created with the help of AI tools during development. Under the Steam Distribution Agreement, you promise Valve that your game will not include illegal or infringing content, and that your game will be consistent with your marketing materials. In our pre-release review, we will evaluate the output of AI generated content in your game the same way we evaluate all non-AI content - including a check that your game meets those promises.
- Live-Generated: Any kind of content created with the help of AI tools while the game is running. In addition to following the same rules as Pre-Generated AI content, this comes with an additional requirement: in the Content Survey, you'll need to tell us what kind of guardrails you're putting on your AI to ensure it's not generating illegal content.
Valve will use that information to judge whether a game can be released and include much of it in the game's store page so that customers are informed.
Players will also be able to use the Steam Overlay to report AI-generated content that they believe is illegal.
The only type of content that will remain broadly banned is live-generated sexual content, at least "right now."
The message ends with an apology to developers for the fact that reaching this conclusion has taken some time, which "has made it harder for some developers to make decisions around their games."
As the discussion about generative AI in the gaming industry continues, several companies including Microsoft, Square Enix, and Ubisoft have expressed their interest in broadly using the technology in the development of their games.
