Ex-Steam Labs dev claims 1,000 Steam games use generative AI

Steam has a sizable number of games that openly use generative AI, according to developer Ichiro Lambe.

Lambe previously worked at Valve on Steam Labs, a tool focused on discoverability. While investigating Steam games using genAI, he found 1,000 titles on the platform have disclosed using the controversial technology in some fashion.

Those games include The Finals (whose genAI usage was known last year), Tribes 3, and Atman: Rebel Flame. Some of these, per their store pages, only used genAI for their human staff to have as a reference point.

In January, Valve gave the green light for developers to put games made with genAI on the storefront. As long as it didn't have anything illegal or infringing, it could go to Steam, a standard the "vast majority" of titles cleared.

Valve's storefront has tens of thousands of games, but 1,000 titles in such a small amount of time says a lot about how accepted the technology could become so quickly.

During his research, Lambe learned most of the usage was art-focused. Of the eight categories, character/NPC art was the highest, followed by background and concept art, then UI.

Voice acting and narrative content were towards the bottom, as were store imagery and artists' tools. Within the past year, its place in voice acting and writing has been highly divisive amongst those working in those fields.

Where does genAI in games go from here?

More than the number of games using genAI, Lambe was taken aback by its inclusion in small and large games. He'd expected larger studios to not use it, and was especially surprised by The Finals. "[That's] not a tiny title," he remarked, "it's huuuuuuuge!"

By that same note, he was amazed at the range of uses for the technology. Studios that use it go "way beyond" image generation, which he thinks may lead to a larger acceptance.

"A nontrivial portion of the industry is actively exploring and incorporating this technology into their creative processes," Lambe noted. "I’m guessing, as the tools advance and become more accessible, we’ll see this trend continue."

He may not be wrong on that front: in January, 49 percent of surveyed developers said their studios are using generative AI tools. While 51 percent say its usage is optional, 37 percent of indie studios use it more than triple-A developers.

Add on studios like Microsoft aiming to incorporate it into both the development and customer service pipelines, and generative AI may be in more games in the near future.

To that, Lambe simply wondered: "What will the numbers [for genAI games on Steam] look like in December 2024?"

Lambe's full thoughts and discoveries on the matter can be read here.

Correction: This story has been updated to correctly state the approximate number of games numbers in the tens of thousands. It previously stated that number as being in the millions.