![\"null\"](\"https:\/\/assets-prd.ignimgs.com\/2025\/11\/27\/tim-sweeney-1746092302375-1747385910840-1749046255696-1764250749296.jpg\")
<\/a>Tim Sweeney says Steam should ditch AI disclosures. Photo by SeongJoon Cho\/Bloomberg.<\/p>\nSweeney, though, believes there\u2019s no point in having such disclosures because pretty much all video games will use AI. Responding to one X \/ Twitter user who called on Steam and all digital marketplaces to drop the \u201cMade with AI\u201d label because \u201cit doesn\u2019t matter any more,\u201d Sweeney agreed, adding: \u201cthe AI tag is relevant to art exhibits for authorship disclosure, and to digital content licensing marketplaces where buyers need to understand the rights situation. It makes no sense for game stores, where AI will be involved in nearly all future production.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sweeney\u2019s tweet has sparked much debate about the rights and wrongs of Steam\u2019s policy here. While Sweeney may be right to say the use of generative AI during video game development is becoming more prevalent, some say removing AI disclosures would make it harder for some customers to make informed purchasing decisions.<\/p>\n
Activision was dragged into this debate recently when Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 players complained about AI-generated images they had found across the game<\/a>, primarily focusing on calling card images with a Studio Ghibli-esque styling, following a trend of AI-Ghibli images from earlier this year<\/a>. A member of U.S. Congress subsequently called Activision out, demanding tighter regulation to “prevent companies from using AI to eliminate jobs.”<\/a><\/p>\n I havent really looked at the Multiplayer and Zombie calling cards as closely and im willing to bet they’re using ai on those too but its only the Campaign and endgame calling cards that are this type of blatant Sora\/Grok artstyle pic.twitter.com\/5qmEXhoQkJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Kume (@Kumesicles) November 14, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n In the case of art \u2014 particularly art sold in premium bundles or battle passes \u2014 it seems reasonable to expect a generative AI disclosure to help inform customers about their purchasing decisions. But this is not backed up by law, and Valve is enforcing this policy because it believes it is the right thing to do. And it’s worth point out that using generative AI to make in-game art and selling it to gamers is of course different to the use of AI in, say, NPC behavior or animation work \u2014 something that has been a part of video game development for years.<\/p>\n The ever chatty Tim Sweeney then used shampoo to reinforce his point in a response to another tweet \u2014 although, as many have pointed out, letting customers know about shampoo isn\u2019t quite the same thing as, say, letting them know they’ve replaced artists with AI-generated slop trained on their work.<\/p>\n Why stop at AI use? We could have mandatory disclosures for what shampoo brand the developer uses. Customers deserve to know lol.<\/p>\n \u2014 Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) November 27, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n It’s no surprise to see Sweeney take this position on AI, given Fortnite’s extensive use of the technology. Over the summer, Epic released AI Darth Vader into Fortnite<\/a> and announced plans to let people create their own AI NPCs. The original Darth Vader was voiced by James Earl Jones, who died in September 2024<\/a> at the age of 93. The AI version of his voice, powered by Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model and ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5, was used with the Jones family’s permission. Within an hour of the feature going live, Fortnite players manipulated Vader into saying the kind of things very much associated with the Dark Side of the Force, including swearing<\/a>. Epic soon patched it out.<\/p>\n Speaking to IGN in June, Sweeney predicted that small teams would soon be able to use AI prompts to make video games on the scale of Nintendo masterpiece The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild<\/a>. “AI characters giving you the possibility of infinite dialogue with a really simple setup for creators means small teams will be able to create games with immense amounts of characters and immense and interactive worlds,” he said. “What would it take for a 10-person team to build a game like Zelda Breath of the Wild in which the AI is just doing all the dialogue and you’re just writing some character synopsis? That’s totally going to be within reach over the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n If you’re hunting for the best offers this week, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub<\/a>, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation<\/a>, Nintendo<\/a>, and Xbox<\/a> deals.<\/p>\n Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.<\/p>\n