Tim Sweeney claims it’s a “Scarlet Letter” which makes players “try to kill the game”
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has criticised rival Valve for forcing studios to disclose when they use AI in game development.
Epic recently showed how it was integrating AI into Unreal Engine 6.
Time Sweeney said:
“If you want to launch a game, and get it as widely publicized as possible, you’ve got to put it on Steam so people can wish list it, and if you want to play it on Steam, then you have to get this Scarlet Letter of AI attached to your product, and now there is a hater community trying to kill the game.
“I think it’s really irresponsible of Valve. They shouldn’t do it, because it makes it much, much, much harder for a game developer to have a chance of success. You have to choose from either not using tools that can make you way more productive, and probably failing due to competition that does.”
Which is totally ignoring the factor that the user should know about the purchase it makes and be able to decide for themselves. Transparency for the player is not a bad thing.
Epic sucks, unreal sucks like nobody acts like mcdonalds is the worlds best burger because it sells a lot, it’s easy cheap junk food. But these software ceos think they actually produce great software when it’s just easy cheap junk too.
I bet sketchy food producers also balked at the idea of ingredient lists when they were first rolled out. If you’re offering something to others and think they might not like something you used in it, maybe it’s better to avoid the thing rather than complain that you’re being forced to tell people about it.
AI content is so loathed and despised that the influencers, film studios, software developers who have embraced it are simultaneously all desperate to downplay, lie and hide it.
But definitely not a speculation bubble! Keep repeating to yourselves that demand for AI is real and that people really value all the nauseating disgusting chatbot generated “art” and “insight” that you’re spewing upon humanity.
“If you want to launch a game, and get it as widely publicized as possible, you’ve got to put it on Steam so people can wish list it, and if you want to play it on Steam, then you have to get this Scarlet Letter of AI attached to your product
You don’t have to, just don’t use A.I. Easy.
As a fan of AI, I want disclosure. Just as tech vegans get to avoid AI, I too would be able to actively seek out games that are doing neat things with it. Disclosure is good for everyone.
Some people will be turned off, some people won’t care. Don’t see the issue of labelling games as containing AI assets as some people want to support games made through 100% human input, give them that ability.
🤡
I don’t like Tim Sweeney, or Epic Games, but I agree with him in this. In the future everything will use AI to some extent, and labeling it as such is stupid. It’s like having a label for whether electricity was used, or whether computers were used. It will be meaningless in short order, and just slows down the entire industry by painting targets on games that are using modern development processes.
Besides, if the AI is THAT onerous, then you silent need a tag to identify it. It should be obvious, right? Make decisions based on the quality of a game, not based on what tools were used to create the game.
In the future, exactly. Not quite today.
How does it slow it down?
AI for Art is basically a way for large companies to profit from other people’s work, and not pay for it (but mixing it up a bit). They could simply pay the artists for the assets, and it would be done faster…
Maybe the people whose work may have been stolen by AI wouldn’t be appreciative to pay for games that potentially use it instead of paying artists…
Also, its not a ban on AI work. It’s simply disclosure. Epic games is just trying to pick a fight about literally everything
Usually it’s more responsible to disclose things.
Exactly. It’s like hiding the amount of ingredients on the packaging for food, just because it looks bad and people would boykott it.
Tim Sweeney claims it’s a “Scarlet Letter” which makes players “try to kill the game”
Yes, and?
Timmy is just mad because his new game engine pressures devs to fill their games with AI slop, and Steam will force their developers to disclose it.
Sweeney’s not a fan of informed purchase practices. Good to know, Tim, I’ll make sure to not float any cash your way.
I’m not really surprised. That was clear when they started with the Epic Games Store without user reviews.
Hmm… Do I side with Epic, famous for:
- Apple app store lawsuit because they didn’t get enough of the profit
- Google play lawsuit, ditto.
- Paying publishers to release games exclusively on Epic Games Store, pushing up prices to gamers.
- Many allegations by former allegations about toxic work culture, very long working hours, especially “crunch” times leading to burnout and mental health issues.
- Aggressive loot boxing and monetization of games specifically targetting children.
- Having to settle a lawsuit with the FTC for $275m to escape prosecution for breaching children’s privacy laws and forced to issue a further $245m in refunds to customers who were victims of “dark patterns” employed by Epic.
Or with Steam?
It’s bizarre seeing people side with Google and apple over their absurd walled garden percentages.
Not liking Epic doesn’t mean Google or apple are in the right.
arent lootboxes a problem with valve too?
They effectively created the modern videogame lootbox, yes. However they haven’t been caught with their pants down specifically targeting children with them, unlike Epic.
Still, fuck valve for lootboxes
Its so hard to get annoyed at them for it though. Prior to valve a few other companies were doing it, but the items effected gameplay - pay to win bullshit.
Valve created cosmetics or balanced rare items at worst. They even quit charging to actually play the game (TF2 was their first). Meaning, you could play, and be as good as anyone else for no cost to you at all.
The fact that grew into a real world market, maybe that is where the complaint is? They have banned 960,000 accounts they thought were farming in 2026 and another 40 they knew were openly real world selling.
Yet I understand your point: people consitantly say stupid ass things like “my account has $250,000 worth of items!” when in reality digital shit shouldnt be “worth” anything. Its digital. It does not exist. But people cant help themselves in “buying” a crate and hoping to get the item that is “worth” something.
Kind of a tangent, but
when in reality digital shit shouldnt be “worth” anything. Its digital. It does not exist.
Should a book have no value just because it was written on a computer and published as an ebook? Are CDs, DVDs and blurays worthless as soon as you access their content? Is photography a joke to you?
Just because digital goods are cheaper and easier to reproduce doesn’t mean it’s worthless.
In this context they are though. For example a color scheme for an in game asset, that only works when a companies server is running a game, is worthless the minute the game ends.
I mean I guess you could take a screenshot and try and enjoy that, but you can’t take it with you in any other way.
Also a tangent: this is why DRM makes everything worthless. If you have a book (digital, written on computer) that is scrambled to never let you access it unless you have one specific decoder, it effectively is worthless. Even if you have a digital copy.
Making the game free was part of the model of the loot boxes - people are less likely to get invested in your moneymaker if they have to pay for entry to the casino
But yes. Despite being in many ways the first iteration of what cosmetic loot boxes are nowadays, they weren’t the most predatory about it
I still find it hard to be annoyed, who is stupid enough to pay for digital goods? Oh wait NFT’s were a thing once…
Should I feel sorry for stupid?
Kids are stupid, and its not their fault. They are by definition learning how not to be. Those i suppose I care about.
Like a casino did they try hard to keep them out? Maybe not hard enough. Did their parents? Probably not.
Everyone else that pays for lootboxes? Meh, adults make their choices.
I don’t think its fair to put the blame on stupid people when you have the best minds of the modern age finely tuning advertising and visual effects and psychological trickery to entice people into specific, addictive, behaviours
The only reason casinos try hard to keep people out is because of laws - there are no where near the same kinds of regulations about lootboxes
Anyway - we broadly agree with eachother and I think we both made our point :P
Yes, but they aren’t as young of an audience maybe idk. One bad thing in common isn’t too bad.
And isn’t Valve also in court for price-fixing?
Lol
