As developers start removing demos from Steam Next Fest to avoid having their IP copied via AI, the current situation is important. Here’s why.
Developers cite AI reverse engineering risks as primary concern
This is a clear indicator of a rising conflict between quick prototyping and the safety of original game systems. We’re already seeing developers opting to keep their work behind closed doors to prevent rapid replication by AI-driven agents.
We’ve already seen instances of this with certain games, such as Digital Sun's ReVamp and Alliance Arts’ Drunken Goddess Reflux. Instead of hosting public demos on Steam, they’re relying on private playtesting.
The reason for this sudden change? The fact that AI agents can reverse engineer your code & systems.
These AI tools can inspect game memory and generate a working code in seconds, effectively jeopardizing unique concepts. They can effectively snatch years of your work in a matter of moments.
It’s not just copying assets – we’re now talking about replicating game systems and logic. Over the last 3 months, the usage of AI in Steam Next Fest demos went from 20% to 33%.
Interestingly, this comes as the number of demos doubled compared to the last one in June. That said, this is likely to be an underestimation of actual usage.
Valve only asks to disclose if the content is created by AI, not AI-assisted code. As we’ve been following Steam closely, in a previous post we saw how Steam Next Fest has more than 8,000 game demos.
The state of things now makes it clear that public demos may not be a viable solution for indie developers. They need to balance the pros (exposure for marketing) with the cons (security issues).
Source: SteamDeckHQ
Discussion
0 comments