Why Is Valve Removing Game Titles That Contain Assets Created By Generative AI?

The Steam Distribution Program Game by publisher Valve is identifying and rejecting game submissions that have assets created using Generative AI. The latest method adopted by Valve appears to be a countermeasure to protect genuine artists and publishers.

Content produced by AI is being flagged and banned by Valve. Developers are being given a single opportunity to strip their game titles of all AI-generated content. Let's look at the latest in the world of Generative AI and how it might affect gaming and game distribution.

AI-Generated Content Being Increasingly Infused In Game Titles

Valve is attempting to curb the increasing amount of AI-generated content being added to game titles. Multiple posts on Reddit have discussed the new rule.

One of the posts by a developer mentioned they developed a game with "a few assets that were fairly obviously AI-generated" and attempted to submit it to the Steamworks Distribution Program, which small game developers can use to distribute their titles.

In response to their submission, the developer received a message claiming Valve couldn't "ship games for which the developer does not have all of the necessary rights". The message reads:

"[Game Name Here] contains art assets generated by Artificial Intelligence that appears to be relying on copyrighted material owned by third parties."

"As the legal owner[ship] of such AI-generated art is unclear, we cannot ship your game while it contains these AI-generated assets unless you can affirmatively confirm that you own the rights to all of the IP used in the data set that trained the AI to create the assets in your game."

Why Is Valve Preventing AI-Generated Assets In Game Titles?

Valve is giving developers a single opportunity to strip the game of all AI-generated assets and resubmit the title. Needless to mention, developers risk getting games banned entirely if they fail to remove AI-produced content.

It is interesting to note that despite removing AI-generated content and resubmitting the title, it was still denied entry. In their claim denial email Valve stated it was "unclear if the underlying AI tech...had sufficient rights to the training data."

The developer claims they were likely denied because they had already been flagged for AI content. However, it is not clear if the developer actually and truly removed all AI-generated content.

It is not completely clear why Valve is taking such an aggressive and strict stand against AI-generated content. It is possible that Valve is merely trying to protect itself from intellectual property lawsuits.

Generative AI platforms rely on Large Language Modules, which are based on huge data sets. Needless to say, AI-generated content is essentially based on content that has already been produced and is visible in the public domain. Hence, AI-generated art could result in copyright infringement.

Strangely, Valve has published AI-generated games before. The game This Girl Does Not Exist, for example, states openly in its Steam description that "all the art, all the characters, story, and even voice acting - was generated by an AI."

Valve is yet to update the Steamworks Distribution Program's submission guidelines. Hence, the new arbitrarily enforced rules are confusing and frustrating for many developers.