23 Daily — According to gamedeveloper.com, Valve publicly acknowledged at the Busan Indie Connect Festival in South Korea on October 28, 2026, the growing trend of AI-powered rapid cloning of popular games on the Steam platform, which has raised concerns among game developers. Valve stated that the primary responsibility to prevent such AI cloning lies with the developers themselves, rather than Valve taking direct intervention in enforcement.

Valve Recognizes AI Cloning Issue and Puts Responsibility on Developers

The phenomenon of developers using AI to quickly replicate successful new releases or upcoming games is spreading swiftly on the Steam storefront, alarming many creators. Tom Giardino and Marc Wilkinson from Valve's business team responded to developers' concerns, including a report that a developer received a threatening email claiming someone would clone their game with AI and release it ahead. Giardino remarked that law enforcement should address this issue, as Valve has no plans to take direct measures to stop such cloning practices, and voiced reluctance to become gatekeepers restricting the use of development tools.

Emphasis on Community Building and Game Design Complexity

Valve advises developers to create games that are less copyable by building active and trusting player communities, encouraging players to prefer original titles over clones. Giardino highlighted that complex games are more difficult for AI to replicate, presenting a natural defense against cloning. This fear of AI cloning is not localized; for example, Digital Sun Games, developer of the 'Moonlighter' series, postponed the public playtest of their upcoming game 'ReVamp' out of concern that AI clones might beat them to market.

Valve's Open Policy and the Challenges Ahead

Since 2018, Valve has followed a relatively open storefront policy allowing almost all legal and non-malicious games onto Steam, without strict content control. While this approach ensures diversity on the platform, it also limits Valve's ability to centrally manage issues like AI cloning. The recent statements indicate Valve will not intervene through curation mechanisms but expects developers to protect their own works through design and community engagement strategies.

Editor's take: New Challenges and Opportunities for Entrepreneurs Amid AI Cloning Wave

As one of the world's largest digital game platforms, Steam faces unprecedented copyright and innovation challenges due to AI-driven rapid game cloning. For entrepreneurs, this represents both risk and opportunity — the key to business success lies in designing unique, hard-to-copy game content and cultivating strong player communities. Startup teams can enhance originality and market competitiveness by meticulous game mechanic design and active community management. They should also monitor legal trends and technological developments to effectively counter cloning threats. To validate their defenses, developers can simulate AI cloning attempts to assess the complexity and resilience of their games, making this a critical part of future game development workflows.