Epic Games CEO says it’s ‘really irresponsible’ of Steam to make studios disclose AI use | VGC - 25th Jun 2026
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GamingTim Sweeney claims it’s a “Scarlet Letter” which makes players “try to kill the game”
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has criticised rival Valve for forcing studios to disclose when they use AI in game development.
Epic recently showed how it was integrating AI into Unreal Engine 6.
Time Sweeney said:
“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, and now there is a hater community trying to kill the game.
“I think it’s really irresponsible of Valve. They shouldn’t do it, because it makes it much, much, much harder for a game developer to have a chance of success. You have to choose from either not using tools that can make you way more productive, and probably failing due to competition that does.”
Which is totally ignoring the factor that the user should know about the purchase it makes and be able to decide for themselves. Transparency for the player is not a bad thing.
What a nincompoop, an ignoramus! A real maroon!
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.
can we have two weeks without a shit take from Tim Sweeney ?
Unlikely.
They see that AI badge lowers their profits so of course they are lobbying against such thing. Big corps are not your friends.
Its deeply irresponsible to humanity that Epic Games exists and I have to hear a CEO's opinions
Bro is just salty cause he has to admit he likes using AI slop if he wants to publish on steam
Transparency sucks
-- Every snakeoil salesman ever
Hey Tim grab deez nuts dickhead.
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
Tim should get in a small airplane
Very “if we stopped testing for COVID there would be no cases” energy.
Fuck off, Sweeney.
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.
yeah it sounds like the old immigrant taking your job but also cashing in welfare
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"?
Weird way to admit they're using AI, but OK.
Their next engine has AI baked into its very core!
Boo fuckin' hoo, Tim.
"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
ah ok, what's next? should we stop steam from forcing games to have their publisher's name linked to a game? Having "EA" on your game is a bit like a Scarlet Letter. But that's not fair, having a big publisher can help you get it as widely publicized as possible!
ah ok, what's next? should we stop steam from forcing games to have their bad reviews linked to a game? Having bad reviews on your game is a bit like a Scarlet Letter. But that's not fair, having a bad reviews makes it harder to get it as widely publicized as possible!
ah ok, what's next? should we stop steam from forcing games to have their price linked to a game? Having high margin prices shown publicly on your game is a bit like a Scarlet Letter. But that's not fair, revealing the full price after the user has already made emotional commitments can help you get it as widely publicized as possible!
honestly, if I show up at tacobell, and like instead of fake high sodium meat, they give me like horse gizzards mixed with grinded scorpian tail based salts and protein derived from dried skunk carcases, why the fuck would I have the right to know that less than 10% of it is actually beef?
that would hurt sales and market innovation!!!
ah ok, what’s next? should we stop steam from DRM disclosure too? Knowing Denuvo is used is a bad look, because lot of people don't like it.
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.
I mean, I don't even mind that on its face. If you really feel like you need to pay $80 to get the roster on your FIFA soccer game updated... that's between you and the business bros that run your local sports game sweetshop.
how about fuck off?
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?
