At Steam Indie Connect on October 27, 2026, Valve representatives Tom Giardino and Marc Wilkinson reportedly addressed complaints about low-quality and copycat games on Steam. Giardino favored improving the platform over dictating which tools developers use, while Wilkinson acknowledged the trade-off in Steam Next Fest’s recommendation system: random exposure can also surface low-quality games.
Valve favored platform improvements over restricting developers’ tools
Giardino’s reported position did not call for a general ban on AI-made games. He said Valve did not want to decide which tools developers could use and described improving Steam as the preferred direction. Wilkinson said a significant number of people were considering ways to address low-quality games.
Giardino also advised developers to build a community and keep adding features, personality, and creative elements rooted in their own perspective, rather than relying on a single mechanic that others could easily copy.
How Steam Next Fest recommendations work
Wilkinson described recommendations as random during the first two days of Steam Next Fest, then personalized afterward. The reported reason for starting at random was to make it harder for developers to game the recommendation system. Wilkinson acknowledged the downside: some low-quality games get exposure during that phase.
What one Coin Harvest developer reported
A developer identifying as the creator of Coin Harvest said the game disclosed AI use in its store-page art and in-game render assets. The developer reported an 83% review score on launch day and 55% three days later. At that later snapshot, the developer cited 49 reviews and about 6,900 copies sold.
Those figures are one developer’s self-reported account of Coin Harvest’s reception. They do not establish that AI use or disclosure caused the score change, or measure how AI disclosure affects games across Steam.
