Users are calling on Valve to let them filter out games made with artificial intelligence, as the latest Steam Next Fest opened with more low-effort submissions than usual. The festival, which Valve runs to showcase indie games and demos, started earlier this week. Many shoppers say the lineup is crowded with titles that appear to be built with AI tools.
Browsing the event, it is easy to find games whose art looks like it was generated with a quick ChatGPT prompt. Some of the games are promoted with AI-generated images, while others appear to have been created largely with AI. The trend follows a wave of activity around Claude Opus 5.5, which has been at the center of a burst of decompilation and mashup mods over the past few weeks.
Why are Steam users asking for an AI filter?
Many Steam users are frustrated by having to sort through those games to find human-made work. One user, ScalesGhost, posted on the Steam subreddit to say he enjoys the Discovery Queue feature but wants more control over it. He asked for the ability to filter out “all games that have AI-Generated content in them,” pointing out that Steam already requires developers to disclose that content. He also asked to exclude certain tags, such as Incremental Games.
Can Steam users filter out AI-generated games today?
The technical hurdle would be modest, according to the post’s logic. Steam already has a detailed tagging system. But Valve cut back on user-defined tags in May, and an AI filter would require the company to add “AI” as an official tag before shoppers could use it.
ScalesGhost is not alone. In a separate thread about how AI has “ruined Next Fest,” a user named EmmaBooney wrote that she had noticed the same problem. “Usually I scroll through and look for interesting games... it’s all AI slop and I don’t want to participate,” she wrote. Another user, aesoprowwy, said the festival could see a drop in engagement because of the number of vibe-coded games on display, and hoped Steam would introduce stricter submission guidelines.
Crowded storefronts are nothing new for Steam. Valve has long taken a hands-off approach to curation and generally relies on its algorithm to push popular games up and bury weak ones. This year’s Next Fest appears worse than past events, but the algorithm may still do its job. Shoppers who can wait a few days will likely see the strongest demos rise to the top while much of the shovelware sinks.
The complaints also arrive as AI spreads through game development. Last week, Epic delayed its upcoming Star Wars shooter to pursue an “AI-first” direction. Epic’s CEO also said on Twitter that the company had vibe-coded the Epic Games Store launcher. Capcom has embraced AI as well. The company’s REX program is expected to help it keep improving the RE Engine, which powered several of this year’s standout releases, including Resident Evil: Requiem and Pragmata.
Is Valve changing Next Fest submission rules?
Valve has not said whether it plans to add an AI filter or stricter rules for Next Fest submissions.
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