Robin Hartmann
The October 2026 Steam Next Fest was supposed to be a stage for exciting indie demos. Instead, many players are mainly talking about one thing: the many games created with generative AI. On Reddit, in forums and on X, people are talking about „AI slop“, and calls for an AI filter are getting louder.
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What happened at Steam Next Fest?
According to Valve’s official announcement , Steam Next Fest has been running since October 19, 2026 and continues until October 26 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, which is 6 p.m. in Germany (Germany switched back to winter time today, the US only on November 1). Valve speaks of „thousands of FREE demos“. New this time is that you can search by genre, theme, feature and subcategory. However, there’s no filter for AI content. That’s exactly what bothers many people, because when clicking through you quickly end up at games whose graphics, covers or entire content were obviously generated by AI.
Examples: These games disclose AI
One game that’s often mentioned in the discussion is Agile Team. Its Steam page’s AI disclosure literally states: „AI assisted in asset generation and editing of game and marketing materials.“ So the developer itself states that game content and marketing material were created with AI help.
Also interesting is the case of Escape the Walls by Pandorio Games. According to its Steam page, the team uses „some generative AI to increase the speed of creating the game, as temporary placeholders“ and also works with professional artists. Then there’s Wall Punch: Escape The Walls Simulator by Thinflow Games, a game with a very similar name and concept. Its disclosure says: „Some AI was used only for creating the artworks and marketing images.“ Fast copycats like this are exactly what many indie developers are currently worried about.
How the community is reacting
In the Steam subreddit, users in widely noticed threads are asking for an option to hide AI games and a reporting function for games that don’t disclose AI. It sounds similar on X. One content creator writes:
The amount of made by AI game demos has drowned out the ability to find great games to highlight on the YouTube channel for Steam Next Fest. It’s just pages of AI slop.
Artist and developer Trent Kaniuga asks:
Is Steam next fest flooded with ai slop? Can we start to care about hand-crafted games yet? I’ll be chipping away at my next game until we do.
But there are other voices too. One user says the problem has gotten smaller with the personalized recommendations:
Now that the personalized recommendations for next fest are out it’s actually good; and all the ai slop is gone
What Valve’s AI rules say
Since January 2024, developers have had to state in the Steamworks Content Survey whether and how they use generative AI. Valve distinguishes two types: „Pre-Generated“ means content created with AI tools during development and shipped with the game. „Live-Generated“ means content created by AI while the game is running. Here, developers must also explain what safeguards prevent illegal content. According to Valve, AI tools that merely make work more efficient are not the focus. The disclosures appear on the game’s Steam page, as Valve explained in the announcement „AI Content on Steam“ . The problem: the developer provides the information itself, and there’s no search filter.
Has Valve responded?
Not yet. Valve’s official Next Fest announcement is only about the new navigation; as of October 25, 2026, 3:50 p.m., there’s no official statement on the criticism of AI games and no announced AI filter. You can find more info on the company on our page about Valve.
Our opinion
I totally understand the frustration. Steam Next Fest thrives on discovering small gems, and that becomes hard when you have to click through tons of mass-produced stuff. For me, an AI filter based on the information Valve already collects would be the obvious first step. Whether Valve will act on it remains to be seen.
