As a fan of AI, I want disclosure. Just as tech vegans get to avoid AI, I too would be able to actively seek out games that are doing neat things with it. Disclosure is good for everyone.
“If you want to launch a game, and get it as widely publicized as possible, you’ve got to put it on Steam so people can wish list it, and if you want to play it on Steam, then you have to get this Scarlet Letter of AI attached to your product
You don't have to, just don't use A.I. Easy.
Some people will be turned off, some people won't care. Don't see the issue of labelling games as containing AI assets as some people want to support games made through 100% human input, give them that ability.
I don't like Tim Sweeney, or Epic Games, but I agree with him in this. In the future everything will use AI to some extent, and labeling it as such is stupid. It's like having a label for whether electricity was used, or whether computers were used. It will be meaningless in short order, and just slows down the entire industry by painting targets on games that are using modern development processes.
Besides, if the AI is THAT onerous, then you silent need a tag to identify it. It should be obvious, right? Make decisions based on the quality of a game, not based on what tools were used to create the game.
How does it slow it down?
AI for Art is basically a way for large companies to profit from other people's work, and not pay for it (but mixing it up a bit). They could simply pay the artists for the assets, and it would be done faster..
Maybe the people whose work may have been stolen by AI wouldn't be appreciative to pay for games that potentially use it instead of paying artists..
Also, its not a ban on AI work. It's simply disclosure. Epic games is just trying to pick a fight about literally everything
🤡
Usually it's more responsible to disclose things.
Exactly. It's like hiding the amount of ingredients on the packaging for food, just because it looks bad and people would boykott it.
Tim Sweeney claims it’s a “Scarlet Letter” which makes players “try to kill the game”
Yes, and?
Timmy is just mad because his new game engine pressures devs to fill their games with AI slop, and Steam will force their developers to disclose it.
Sweeney's not a fan of informed purchase practices. Good to know, Tim, I'll make sure to not float any cash your way.
I'm not really surprised. That was clear when they started with the Epic Games Store without user reviews.
Hmm... Do I side with Epic, famous for:
Or with Steam?
It's bizarre seeing people side with Google and apple over their absurd walled garden percentages.
Not liking Epic doesn't mean Google or apple are in the right.
arent lootboxes a problem with valve too?
They effectively created the modern videogame lootbox, yes. However they haven't been caught with their pants down specifically targeting children with them, unlike Epic.
Still, fuck valve for lootboxes
Its so hard to get annoyed at them for it though. Prior to valve a few other companies were doing it, but the items effected gameplay - pay to win bullshit.
Valve created cosmetics or balanced rare items at worst. They even quit charging to actually play the game (TF2 was their first). Meaning, you could play, and be as good as anyone else for no cost to you at all.
The fact that grew into a real world market, maybe that is where the complaint is? They have banned 960,000 accounts they thought were farming in 2026 and another 40 they knew were openly real world selling.
Yet I understand your point: people consitantly say stupid ass things like "my account has $250,000 worth of items!" when in reality digital shit shouldnt be "worth" anything. Its digital. It does not exist. But people cant help themselves in "buying" a crate and hoping to get the item that is "worth" something.
Kind of a tangent, but
when in reality digital shit shouldnt be “worth” anything. Its digital. It does not exist.
Should a book have no value just because it was written on a computer and published as an ebook? Are CDs, DVDs and blurays worthless as soon as you access their content? Is photography a joke to you?
Just because digital goods are cheaper and easier to reproduce doesn't mean it's worthless.
In this context they are though. For example a color scheme for an in game asset, that only works when a companies server is running a game, is worthless the minute the game ends.
I mean I guess you could take a screenshot and try and enjoy that, but you can't take it with you in any other way.
Also a tangent: this is why DRM makes everything worthless. If you have a book (digital, written on computer) that is scrambled to never let you access it unless you have one specific decoder, it effectively is worthless. Even if you have a digital copy.
Making the game free was part of the model of the loot boxes - people are less likely to get invested in your moneymaker if they have to pay for entry to the casino
But yes. Despite being in many ways the first iteration of what cosmetic loot boxes are nowadays, they weren't the most predatory about it
Yes, but they aren't as young of an audience maybe idk. One bad thing in common isn't too bad.
Lol
So, if a dev uses AI, they fail because of haters, but they also win because they're more productive than devs that don't?
Being strong and weak at the same time is always a fun rhetoric.
Also, afaik, Valve only asks for disclosure of generative AI for asset generation, not productivity tools like coding assistance.
not productivity tools like coding assistance
Given how Microsoft has really jammed AI code-assist down the throats of developers whether they want it or not, it would be kinda crazy if they did. The "contains AI" tag would be on virtually everything that touches Visual Studio, hollowing out its value as an indicator.
I think that is a valid point. That's why Valve changed the initial policy. If I remember right, in the beginning it was "Ai" in general, without this distinction. But this is still not 100% clear (even if we assume the devs are not lying). In example is generating code with Visual Studio "generative Ai"?
yeah it sounds like the old immigrant taking your job but also cashing in welfare
You just don't understand Sweeney logic. If you use AI you are more productive as a developer so you win, but you can't win because you need to let everyone know you used AI so you lose. So to keep the winners winning you need to make sure the thing that makes them lose doesn't happen.
Okay, in all seriousness I can understand his developer-centric takes but it's pretty clear he still treats gamers, the actual consumers of the product, as cattle. We exist only to give money to game developers so they could make games, at least according to satan Sweeney. I was just wondering if he's finally come around with all the improvements the Epic store is getting but no. Let's just hope that bright mind at Epic gets to keep their job because it's pretty clear it wasn't Sweeney's idea to improve the Epic store.
As something of a developer myself, I'd argue he has a developer-centric take. He's probably more focused on profits.
I'd say a developer wants to create a quality product rather than hastily cobbled together slop. Especially when we're talking about asset generation. Sure, you save money and time by churning out generic AI assets, but you gain quality from an actual artist. I guess improvements on the Epic Store are exactly that.
Funny how the greedy of the gaming industry never understand that quality gets them money rather than quantity.
Wait, so studios will have to avoid using AI tools, but then other people that do use those tools will be eating their lunch? Either there are a significant number of people that will base purchasing decisions on whether a game used AI in production, or there are not. This is a trivial question to answer by polling customers, or looking at what happens with competing products in your market segment, or any other variety of basic market research. Companies have to work with questions like this constantly.
Epic is exclusively mad because they think there are many people that will avoid (or pay less for, or delay purchase, or expect higher quality, or more worthwhile content, or... Anything like that) games that are produced with AI, and every game made with UE6 will have to bear that scarlet letter, and suffer lower sales. If they really believed you can make much bigger and better games with the new tools, then they would do it, and people will get over their skepticism to play fun games.
can we have two weeks without a shit take from Tim Sweeney ?
Unlikely.
Very “if we stopped testing for COVID there would be no cases” energy.
Transparency sucks
-- Every snakeoil salesman ever
It's wild that a CEO can just say this out loud without a mob of haters trying to kill their product.
Weird way to admit they're using AI, but OK.
Their next engine has AI baked into its very core!
"we should be able to lie and sneak ai in. If they found out they wouldnt want it, and the people paying for it shouldnt have any say in the matter"
Utterly deranged take, as expected from him
They see that AI badge lowers their profits so of course they are lobbying against such thing. Big corps are not your friends.
oh nooo, I'm so scared of my game losing to the competition using AI tools that everyone fuckin hates. Whatever will I do to have value in the eyes of the customers?
Bro is just salty cause he has to admit he likes using AI slop if he wants to publish on steam
What a nincompoop, an ignoramus! A real maroon!
Boo fuckin' hoo, Tim.
With an attitude like this, you have to wonder how many EA development teams are simply going to lie when prompted.
Not that they've released a game worth playing in a long time, but this makes me suspect the entire studio is drowning in AI slop.
Ai is great for EA slop. A "new" sports game every year that is the same as the last with some stat changes.
It’s not really surprising, they’re forcing so many slop tools into ue6 that they don’t want to ruin another engine’s reputation after ue5’s disaster.
They’re not interested in actually doing the thing that would earn positive reputation though, they’d rather hide it
they’d rather hide it
This is the part that upsets me most. That tells a lot about the person and their business. How can I trust someone who tries to hide information that I care about?
Imagine using AI, an environmentally and moral impact. People should be aware of that before making any kind of purchase; Valve not only agrees with such, but also is enforcing such policies in places they can enact such causes. Those who cry out it’s unfair are the people who want to hurt the environment and the people (both workers and customers)
No one’s asked nor wanted this treatment. Tim swiney has horrible takes and should be processed like any other capitalistic pig
Hey Tim grab deez nuts dickhead.
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