What stands out here is who is talking: Valve itself. During Steam Indie Connect, an event for independent developers held in South Korea on October 27, company representatives acknowledged that Steam has a problem with cloned games and low-quality AI-made content. The remarks were reported by Korean outlet Inven Global and picked up by Kotaku.

“We are fully aware of the situation, and a significant number of people are thinking about how to solve this problem,” said Valve’s Marc Wilkinson. At the same time, the company made clear it will not choose for anyone: according to the report, Valve said it does not want to be a gatekeeper telling developers which tools they should or should not use. Valve did not detail concrete measures, timelines or how big the team involved is.

The issue has become more urgent in recent weeks. Indie developers reported messages threatening to clone their games unless they paid a ransom, and the advice given is to report those cases to Valve. In practice, a clone copies the core mechanic of a successful game and tries to ride on its search traffic.

Wilkinson also explained how Steam Next Fest curation works, after the latest edition received twice as many demos: for the first two days, the showcase displays demos at random; from the third day on, it suggests games based on each player’s preferences.

Valve’s Tom Giardino had advice for studios: “Launch feels like the finish line, but it’s actually the starting line.” Rather than relying on a single mechanic that anyone can copy, he said, developers need to keep growing their game with features, personality and creativity. A lovely detail for anyone who follows indies: that personality is exactly what no clone can copy.

Source: Valve, via Inven Global e Kotaku.