Steam Redefines AI Transparency: Valve Clarifies What Developers Must Actually Disclose

Valve has substantially revised Steam’s AI disclosure requirements, shifting focus toward player-facing content while explicitly exempting behind-the-scenes development tools from mandatory reporting.

In a significant update spotted by industry analyst Simon Carless of GameDiscoverCo, Valve has rewritten the guidelines governing how game developers must disclose artificial intelligence usage on the Steam platform. The changes represent a crucial clarification in an increasingly contentious debate about AI’s role in game development.

The Key Distinction: What Players See Versus What Developers Use

The most important change in Valve’s updated policy centers on a critical distinction many developers have been seeking: the separation between AI-generated content that players experience and AI-powered development tools that improve efficiency.

Valve’s revised disclosure form now explicitly states that developers are “aware that many modern game development environments have AI powered tools built into them.” Crucially, the company adds that “efficiency gains through the use of these tools is not the focus of this section.”

In practical terms, this means developers using AI coding assistants, automated bug-detection tools, or other productivity-enhancing AI applications won’t need to flag their games with AI disclosure warnings—provided these tools aren’t generating content that players actually see, hear, or interact with.

Two Categories That Require Disclosure

Under the updated rules, developers must disclose AI usage in two specific scenarios:

1. Pre-Generated AI Content This category covers any content created with AI tools that ships with the game. Whether it’s artwork on the Steam store page, character models, voice acting, narrative text, or marketing materials—if AI helped create it and players encounter it, it requires disclosure.

Developers must verify that such content doesn’t include illegal or copyright-infringing material and provide details about what was generated and how.

2. Live-Generated AI Content The second category applies to games that generate content in real-time during gameplay. Think AI-driven NPCs creating unique dialogue on the fly, procedurally generated textures based on player input, or adaptive storytelling systems.

For live-generation systems, Valve has introduced stricter requirements. Developers must implement “guardrails” preventing the AI from creating illegal, offensive, or inappropriate content. Failure to do so can result in the game being removed from the store.

Player-Driven Enforcement

To support these updated rules, Valve has introduced a new reporting mechanism. Players can now flag AI-generated content they believe violates Steam’s policies directly through the Steam Overlay.

This community-driven approach puts additional responsibility on players to help moderate AI usage across the platform—a move that reflects both the scale of Steam’s catalog and the difficulty of manually reviewing AI implementation across thousands of games.

The Numbers Tell a Story

The timing of this policy update is no coincidence. AI usage in Steam games has exploded over the past year:

• 2024: Approximately 1,000 games disclosed AI usage
• First half of 2025: Nearly 8,000 games disclosed AI usage
• Current trends: Roughly 20% of all new Steam releases in 2025 involve generative AI in some capacity
• Total library: AI-disclosing games now represent about 7-8% of Steam’s entire catalog

According to research by Totally Human Media, the most common AI applications in disclosed games include:

• Visual asset generation (60% of disclosures): Characters, backgrounds, textures, UI elements
• Audio generation: Voice-overs, narration, sound effects, background music
• Text and narrative: Item descriptions, dialogue, lore, localization
• Marketing materials: Store page images, promotional assets
• Code assistance: Logic systems, optimization (now exempt from disclosure)

Industry Reactions: Mixed Signals

The gaming community’s response to AI in development remains deeply divided. High-profile releases like Jurassic World Evolution 3 faced immediate backlash after disclosing AI-generated character portraits, leading developers to remove the AI elements entirely.

Yet other titles have found success despite—or perhaps because of—transparent AI usage. My Summer Car, which discloses AI-generated paintings as decorative elements, has sold an estimated 2.5 million copies. inZOI has attracted players with its AI-powered customization features allowing real-time generation of textures and outfits.

Meanwhile, industry reactions have been equally varied. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has criticized Steam’s disclosure requirements entirely, arguing that “AI will be involved in nearly all future production” and comparing the labels to hypothetical “shampoo brand disclosures.”

Conversely, some developers are taking harder stances. Larian Studios has publicly stated there will be no generative AI art in their upcoming Divinity title, while an indie developer recently delisted his game from Steam after his girlfriend convinced him that the AI-generated card art was “a disgrace to all game makers and players.”

What This Means for the Future

Valve’s clarifications suggest the company is attempting to strike a delicate balance: acknowledging AI’s inevitability in modern development while maintaining transparency for consumers who want to make informed purchasing decisions.

The policy recognizes a practical reality—most modern game engines and development environments now include some form of AI assistance. Requiring disclosure for every instance of AI-touched code or automatically optimized assets would be both impractical and meaningless to consumers.

Instead, Valve is focusing on what matters to players: the actual content they experience. Did an AI generate the art you’re looking at? The voices you’re hearing? The story you’re playing through? Those are the questions Steam’s disclosure system now aims to answer.

Industry Survey Data Reveals Declining Enthusiasm

Interestingly, while AI usage has increased, developer enthusiasm appears to be waning. According to the 2025 Game Developers Conference survey:

• 52% of developers work at companies using generative AI tools (up from previous years)
• 9% said their companies are interested in adopting AI tools (down from 15% in 2024)
• 27% reported no interest in using AI tools (up 9 percentage points from 2024)

This suggests that while AI adoption is growing, it’s becoming more normalized and less exciting—viewed as just another tool rather than a revolutionary technology.

The Takeaway

Valve’s updated policy represents a maturing approach to AI in gaming. Rather than treating all AI usage as monolithic, the company is distinguishing between tools that enhance developer productivity and content that directly shapes player experience.

For developers, this provides much-needed clarity about what must be disclosed and what doesn’t. For players, it maintains transparency about the games they’re purchasing while avoiding meaningless technical disclosures that wouldn’t impact their experience.

As generative AI becomes increasingly embedded in game development pipelines, expect these policies to continue evolving. The gaming industry is still writing the rulebook on AI transparency—and Steam’s latest update is an important chapter in that ongoing story.

What’s your take on Steam’s AI disclosure requirements? Do you check for AI usage before purchasing games, or is the technology becoming too normalized to matter?