The news cycle is revealing some hard to swallow news from the end of Valve, with a couple of actions leaving a sour taste in the mouth of gamers everywhere.
The first major headline is the reveal that Valve has addressed the use of AI generated content and assistance with games, where previously it had a blanket statement that simply said nope.
This was done as part of a plan from the company where a statement was offered that Valve was “continuing to learn” about AI. Now as part of a Steam Community blog post, it seems the learning has yielded results, and some forms of AI use will be allowed.
…we are updating the Content Survey that developers fill out when submitting to Steam. The survey now includes a new AI disclosure section, where you’ll need to describe how you are using AI in the development and execution of your game. It separates AI usage in games into two broad categories:
- Pre-Generated: Any kind of content (art/code/sound/etc) created with the help of AI tools during development. Under the Steam Distribution Agreement, you promise Valve that your game will not include illegal or infringing content, and that your game will be consistent with your marketing materials. In our pre-release review, we will evaluate the output of AI generated content in your game the same way we evaluate all non-AI content – including a check that your game meets those promises.
- Live-Generated: Any kind of content created with the help of AI tools while the game is running. In addition to following the same rules as Pre-Generated AI content, this comes with an additional requirement: in the Content Survey, you’ll need to tell us what kind of guardrails you’re putting on your AI to ensure it’s not generating illegal content.
So transparency is the key when it comes to including AI assisted elements within your titles. While this makes sense in theory, in practice it does essentially blow open the flood gates for AI driven content in games on the Steam platform, for better or worse. A chorus of concerned users have already made it clear that offering such flagging options directly to developers is also a concerning choice, because there is plenty of room for the makers of these games to simply skip over the disclosure.
This is somewhat addressed with a new reporting tool being offered to Steam users, which adds a pipeline to report “illegal Live-Generated AI content” via an in-game overlay. But this of course offloads the moderation of any shonky AI use to the players, who already feel a colossal strain at trying to moderate a deluge of questionable content.
As with all Valve plans, this initial rollout is of course open to feedback and perhaps changes to be made over time – but the current incarnation leaves a lot to be desired, especially when paired with a quote from their blog that reads “This will enable us to release the vast majority of games that use it (AI)” – having a distinctly awkward air of profit chasing.
Valve now allow AI-generated content in games sold on Steam. Notably none of their objections to AI content have changed, but in true Valve style they've simply shifted responsibility for dealing with it onto the user.https://t.co/aQLHqzDdNN pic.twitter.com/Rzq8e5UbUF
— mike cook (@mtrc) January 10, 2024
The next headline that has people aching is in regards to a promising project that saw the Team Fortress 2 assets working within the impressive Source 2 engine.
People may be aware that Counter-Strike got formally updated to a proper 2.0 version in 2023, effectively giving the title a new lease on life and a modern platform for further development. Such an upgrade was essential to keep it healthy – so of course fans of other Valve games looked longingly at their favourite (perhaps neglected) titles and wondered if they’d receive a similar update.
Of course, TF2 fans wanted a slice of that sexy pie – and a team actually started working on a Team Fortress 2 experience that worked within the new engine. They even managed to get it running in a deathmatch capacity, so people were salivating at how the potential was starting to be realised.
But apparently Valve has dropped a DMCA notice via GitHub to shoot the project dead.
It has fans reeling for a great many reasons – the first and foremost being that it’s a very cold act from Valve. Valve has been a paragon example of fan-collaboration in the past, going so far as giving their blessing to wholesale modern upgrades of other old games, such as Black Mesa. Usually a situation like this would include some communication, long before any scary legal-ese was employed. Some in the community have offered the suggestion that this may point towards an official internal project to bring a Source 2 engine upgrade to TF2 – but even then the Valve of the past would have perhaps even offered jobs to the existing fan team to assist with making such a thing happen.
The DMCA notice instead acts as a very blunt slamming of the door on such a project.
Valve just DMCA'd TF:Source 2
— Joey (@JoeyCheerio) January 10, 2024
this ain't good pic.twitter.com/93fYoq5TmF
Even if Team Fortress 2 is announced to be receiving a Source 2 port, it will be soured now to think that Valve was so harsh to their community before doing so. It speaks volumes to the goodwill that Valve has had over so many years, that doing “what every other company does” feels so out of the ordinary for them.
Edit: Oh god, they also killed the Portal64 project. At least it’s for the very valid reason of avoiding Nintendo’s wrath.
Portal 64, an open source N64 demake of Portal was also taken down by Valve.
This is unheard of coming from the company known for helping people with their IPs pic.twitter.com/BrQOIR5sCU
— Joey (@JoeyCheerio) January 10, 2024
All in all, a very disheartening array of news across the gamut of Valve offerings. As for any reaction to the backlash, Valve is famously known for putting time into a formal response – so don’t hold your breath.
How do you feel about the new age of AI games making their way to Steam? Are you a TF2 fan shattered by todays news? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
