Hilariously, the example cited in the article doesn't seem to actually count towards steams ai policy. Sweeney, you're just so very full of shit.
Indie games like Stardew Valley and Undertale don't need generative AI, skill issue much?
What next, it's "irresponsible" to mention the system requirements because people won't buy games that are too advanced for their device, which is depriving devs of sales?
Maybe being anti-consumer isn't the best strategy to bring those "consumer" things to your marketplace, Tim.
Stardew Valley and Undertale
Games developed before generative AI was widely available and usable for software development.
TBF I believe indie games will benefit the most from generative AI. Letting a model have to worry about quaternions definitely makes things easier.
TBF I believe indie games will benefit the most from generative AI.
This is the one point where my opinions on GenAI split:
On one hand, art assets can be a lot of effort and time to create manually, which may hamstring games with interesting concepts and mechanics whose devs don't have the skills or time to wrap them into suitable aesthetics. Voice acting is also a difficult point that can fill a world with life (like background chatter in villages), but isn't always trivial for smaller teams or solo developers, particularly if they aren't good at voice acting themselves and don't have the money to pay someone up-front.
For those reasons, I think using GenAI to handle creative aspects is understandable if the devs themselves can't shoulder that burden.
On the other hand, I feel like there should be better solutions. This reasoning to justify GenAI might be leveraged to justify not hiring artists or VAs. Sure makes your studio look smaller, and also leaves a larger margin of profit. Who's gonna be able to tell whether you even looked for people to help you instead of just taking the shortcut?
I assume it comes down to economic and competitive pressures too. I'm sure there are plenty of artists or VAs that would lend their time and craft to an interesting game for the promise of a cut once the game releases, if they didn't have to worry about paying bills right now instead of an uncertain future income.
I find myself returning to the topic of Universal Basic Income, or at least shorter working times for equal income: Imagine how much art people could create if they had the leisure to, instead of maximising profits for some money addicts' "number go up" fix.
Super strong “If I told you who I really was you’d never have slept with me!” energy.
It’s called consent. If people wouldn’t want to engage with the content unless they were misled in some way then that amounts to manipulation and a violation of trust. Looks like Epic Games just told the whole world that they would lie to their customers if they felt like the truth would give them too much choice.
Fuck ‘em.
Tim Sweeney with a garbage take, seems like a normal day.
What really is irresponsible is using amalgamations of stolen work and presenting it as the future
Sugar labels on food didn't stop their sales 🤷
I don't see it. Disclosure is always a good thing.
Some people care, and they should have the option to choose. Not be misled, ignored, or lied to.
Fuck you Tim Sweeney. Valve is right for putting that info up so people can make informed purchases.
Transparency so customers can make informed decisions is “irresponsible”? What a garbage take.
If using AI is a “scarlet letter” that makes people hate your game then don’t use it?! The willful ignorance to customer preference is staggering.
The same people unironically: let the free market decide
let the free market decide
But only if the 'free' market chooses me, otherwise, it's wrong and everything should be changed!
Let the ~~free~~ captured market decide.
If the game isn't made by people, I wish it a very merry get fucked and die.
And this, Tim, is why I spend most of my money at Steam.
This may shock you, but proudly parading that you want to fuck over consumers at every opportunity is not good incentive.
So they can't not use AI because they'll lose out to studios that do (not sure about that one but whatever) but if they do use AI no one will buy the game.
Pick one
It's kind of the MAGA mentality.
"Oh no, informing people allows them to decide for themselves, we can't have that! I, sweeney whiney, must protect the world from informed decisions!"
The more I read about Epic Games and their CEO Tim Sweeney, the more I dislike the company and the guy.
They give you lot of reasons to. For me it was a personal thing when I really started to hate Epic Games. 2019 Epic purchased the studio of Rocket League, when the game was in a hype phase and I played and enjoyed it very much on my Linux system. Shortly after they removed the Linux support for the game and then they also removed it from Steam as well. Due to an update of the game it was no longer viable to support it on Linux they said.
This really really bugged me on a personal level. Today I think the game is playable on Linux, I don't know exactly. But it requires Epic Games Launcher and probably account on them. To me the game is dead. And Epic killed it (for me).
It's really irresponsible for Tim Sweeney to be a such a fucking moron but he hasn't stopped that yet.
Also Sweeney "why do people like Steam more than the Epic store?"
Tim Swine-ny can you just stfu for once?
He's got it all wrong. We don't want to kill the game, in my case, I just want to kill HIM.
Nobody loves you Epic Games, fuck off.
Stfu sweeney
The best thing about Tim Sweeney is that he consistently has the most wrong take on any issue. He's like the Lou Gehrig of being an idiot.
I have yet to read a headline where is not being dull doorknob licker
"We must do X at any cost to the user because others will do it and get the money"
This mentality has driven the games industry to become psychologically manipulative, subscription battleass and absolutely proprietary.
Maybe the irresponsibility is in ourselves for giving those game companies money.
Boo hoo
Bitch-boy CEO whining about rival company that epitomizes everything he doesn’t have at every chance he gets, very typical behaviour just carry on
That dickhead wouldn't understand responsibility if it tattooed a scarlet R onto his chest.
It is irresponsible to post such shit from the sweeney son of a bitch
Interesting that he frames LLMs as both a tool that he needs to use to compete, whilst also framing their use as a scarlet letter that will tank sales if he uses them.
Tim Sweeney, the pedophile (protector) who insists that pedophiles aren't using Roblox to commit pedophilic crimes by preying on minors? That Tim Sweeney?
He also says that stopping ai generated csam is "gatekeeping".
Whenever I say this his apologists magically appear.
I'm making a game and I just ai for parts of the code and and for assets currently. I make it because I'm 43 and been programming my entire life and yet never took the time to make a game.
If I ever were to release it on any store, I'd replace the assets with human made and declare that I've had LLM assistance in coding, no matter if there's a role about it or not.
Basically I know it's important to some people and I don't want them to accidentally spend money on something they hate. It would be like sneaking meat into a vegetarian dish.
What kind of looney tunes universe does this motherfucker think he lives in
"Think of the game-devs needing to make money" says a fat cat talking about a tool forged from game-dev's labour without compensation and disregarding any social contracts (i.e. copyleft software licenses).
I wonder why the man who makes money off engine royalties might have a problem with something that can dramatically affect sales after stuffing that engine with the crap people hate.
Man, Sweeney's been on a roll lately, hasn't he? Too bad I've got no idea what he's talking about most of the time
All of this together is why there is so much media attack on Steam. Just think of the amount of fuckery we would be subjected to, if Steam was out of the equation.
Another choice quote from the original IGN interview that this is from:
Sweeney: [...] The only way that we can hope for new games coming into the market to be able to succeed when there's so much Metcalfe's Law at play and so many captive audiences in the really big games – you know, Fortnite, Roblox, PUBG Mobile, and a few other really huge ones – it's got to be that those games get momentum by connecting to the economies in other games. I think that can really reinvigorate the market if people are constantly looking to new games and sources of new items that they can earn everywhere and be able to really easily move together with their friends.
Guy got talked into the whole blockchain NFT crap so hard that he's still trying to make it happen, as if it was ever a desirable thing that the best way to get some kind of gear or cool cosmetics in game A involves playing game B instead.
If I am buying an "AI" game I'll pay a couple of bucks and no more as there are no labour costs involved. If I'm buying from a company that supports human beings, I'll pay about 50-100 bucks, depending on the game.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
