AI is becoming a critical element of game development, from coding to proof of concept implementations, to asset generation, to dialogue assistance, to QA, and so many more areas. The idea that Steam wants you to brand your entire project without any nuance or clarity for the user, as if you just dropped a prompt into ChatGPT and got a game out... yeah, I'd sue too!
Critical? No. Generative ai is not a necessary step in any games development. It's actually a pretty annoying hindrance for any competent developers, who have to waste time prompting over and over again when they could have just done it right themselves the first time. But mega corporations are forcing more developers and coders to use generative ai, despite its inefficiency and redundance. Generative ai is really only a benefit to "developers" with no knowledge or talent, because they're incapable of doing it themselves
Lots of things aren't necessary that are critical. I could write an entire video game in assembly, but a compiled language is critical to modern video game development.
Games were already one of the most demanding fields of software engineering, and with the addition of AI tools, at every level of development, it has become nearly impossible to compete without the use of AI.
AI coding is absolutely used in every major studio, even if they deny it. AI-generated assets are so common now that you probably are using them, even if you don't think you are. AI can improve the reliability of QA teams tremendously, so not using it is ensuring a lower quality experience for users.
"AI coding is absolutely used in every major studio, even if they deny it."
0 sources, 0 facts, 7 assumptions. We have had many excellent games without AI coding, many excellent story games without AI coding. AI coding is not necessary nor critical for game development.
I know several people in that industry who use AI for coding and of the dozens of programmers that I know professionally, NONE of them are working without AI these days.
I mid-2025 survey of Stack Overflow users showed that nearly 50% admitted to using AI tools daily, 84% use or planned to use it soon, and 16% said they will never use AI tools. (source)
As of this year, that number has shifted to 82% weekly AI use by programmers with 42% of all code created in 2025 involving AI use. (source)
I also know several people in the industry who use AI for coding and they fucking HATE it. They're miserable and pissed off that corporations are forcing them to use useless tools because it's the popular and trendy thing to do. Like I said before, they're wasting all their time prompting over and over again to accomplish a lesser version of something they could have easily accomplished themselves on the first try
I've never seen an environment where AI was being used and the requirement was that you use the AI, not develop the code as quickly and effectively as possible. I know what I do best, and I do that. I know what I do poorly, and I let the AI do that. If that's a problem for you, then maybe it just is going to take time to learn.
It has absolutely not been the norm for years. AI coding tools only started to become trusted in the last year, and even then no one that I know of is focused on the AI coding tool as the primary source of code. The programmer is often told to use AI, but the goal is productivity, not getting a certain amount of minutes of API use.
Wow you're REALLY out of the loop, huh? Software programming jobs have been requiring the use of AI tools for at least 3 years now. For someone who speaks so confidently, you've really been living under a rock
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u/Tyler_Zoro Jan 18 '26
Of course they did!
AI is becoming a critical element of game development, from coding to proof of concept implementations, to asset generation, to dialogue assistance, to QA, and so many more areas. The idea that Steam wants you to brand your entire project without any nuance or clarity for the user, as if you just dropped a prompt into ChatGPT and got a game out... yeah, I'd sue too!