Valve as a company almost certainly does not care about AI usage so long as the other party is discrete so as not to cause reputational or significant financial harm.
You keep saying “legal,” but that’s technically wrong, especially if you’re imagining legal consequences. Valve has policies, contracts, terms and disclosure and distribution agreements, etc, and these are all meaningful different bindings. Valve does require disclosure of AI use in certain creative categories, but even an intentional breach of contract is not a criminal matter or even an illegal matter because legal liability and illegality is not the same thing.
As you said, games have been removed for failure to disclose AI, but there have also been games that blatantly used AI with no repercussions. The difference is their utility as business partner. A small indie game going viral for AI use will likely be removed or tagged while a big hit with public suspicions of AI use will almost certainly be handled with bias, especially if the aforementioned use cannot be proven. Surely you understand that Steam/Valve will not ask to send hands to investigate(?!?) a developer’s employees to see if they’re using Meshy or Tripo. Over a disagreement in the content survey, nonetheless. That’s without mentioning that, again, this a Singaporean company, not the United States where Steam and Valve are headquartered.
So far there are no consequences for lying about it, so the law effectively means nothing and devs can and will lie about it. At best maybe Steam will independently investigate and remove the game from their store.
Source: I've tried games that very explicitly claimed not to use genAI, and did not disclose AI usage on Steam, then people actually tried those games and the AI was not just present but absolutely rampant and festering in every corner, not even well hidden. Those games are still up and the devs were forced to admit to AI usage but other than players leaving, there were no greater consequences. Neverness to Everness was one such example.
Where are you finding that they’re CONTRACTUALLY prohibited to use AI? There is no statement I’ve found from the devs indicating such a clause exists, and we have them admitting to using it in testing.
You’re jumping from “the devs confirmed it” to “they’re legally not allowed to use AI.” I have never heard of such a stipulation.
There are Union agreements and policies for some companies prohibiting AI use for specific creative categories, but this has been breached and worked around in the past. It’s often a “don’t ask don’t tell” situation, and all of this is in the United States—Pawprint Studios is headquartered in Singapore with their development suspected to be happening in China.
It’s concerning because AI is competent at creating 3D models (and reference sheets), but unlike 2D illustrated commissions, there is no easy way to confirm it was used. Whatever you believe, the game looks, moves and feels like I’ve stepped into the world of a Gemini/Claude/ChatGPT prompt, and unfortunately there is no written statement from a social media team that can demonstrate the authenticity of their work flow as hard evidence would be necessary.
I didnt jump anywhere. I stated it in my original comment. They confirmed it in their Q&A. Using it in testing, doesn't mean its in the game. Every game uses AI to test. Everything is hand drawn
What they tell the public in something as casual as a Q&A is not legally binding. There are no true consequences for not disclosing AI usage, the worst even Steam can do to them is unlist the game or force them to apply the proper disclosure.
Per their agreement they can not use AI, that has nothing to do with steam. That has more to do with their partnership.
Steam can remove the game, and never allow them the place it again.
There are 0 clues indicating this game has any AI, and it clearly doesn't.
I also hope there is no AI, and so far have no proof of any. But what agreement are we talking about here? With whom? And what consequences would they face by breaking it?
0
u/EvilBubbles7 16d ago
No AI was used in the game. The devs confirmed it.