AI use is surging in Steam game development.
Steam sees 700% increase in games using generative AI since 2024, report shows. Credit: Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
A new report from Totally Human Media reveals that nearly 20 percent of video games released on Steam in 2025 use generative AI.
The report from Totally Human, which uses machine learning and generative AI to recommend games, books, shows, and movies, reported that approximately 7,818 games on Steam disclosed using Generative AI. That represents about 7 percent of the entire available Steam library. For games released on the platform in 2025, just under 20 percent — or about 1 in 5 games — utilized AI, or disclosed doing so, at least.
In total, that’s a nearly 700 percent increase in games that use generative AI on Steam, according to Totally Human Media’s 2024 report on the same subject.
Game Rant reported that the most popular game to make that Generative AI disclosure is My Summer Car, a vehicle simulation game that lets users build, fix, tune, and perform maintenance to their car. It has sold 2.5 million units, Game Rant reported. The disclosure reads, “The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this: There are some AI generated paintings found inside the main house.”
It looks like Totally Human gathered this data from Steam itself, which has required game developers to disclose the use of Generative AI since January 2024. Valve Corporation, the company that owns Steam, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mashable.
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In a Reddit thread about the Totally Human article, many commenters said if a game uses AI, that game will automatically go in their “ignore” list.
“We need to tag them so they can be an ignored category,” one user wrote.
“More and more Steam games are going on my Ignore list,” another user wrote.
In general, even commenters who weren’t completely against AI in games wrote that they were turned off by the move.
“So many cool games in the steam next fest immediately put me off when I realized they were using GenAI. Pay artists ffs,” another person commented.
Although, there is nuance for many Steam users.
“Not surprised in this day and age. Everyone at every company is pushing for AI usage, not surprise the gaming industry as a whole is also pushing for it,” one user commented on Reddit. “So far AI assets are pretty easy to spot as you no doubt already know but I get the sentiment of ‘what am I paying for if its all AI’ and agree with it. I guess I don’t mind AI usage for simple things like UI elements or unit cards, simple stuff.”
Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.
Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.
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