AI and the game becomes an inseparable match. Whether it’s the AI used in modern graphics rendering or the AI used in actual game development, I’ve noted several times that I don’t think they’re leaving anytime soon.
The rise of artificial intelligence is causing hiccups for global PC gaming marketplaces like Steam right from the start. In January 2024Steam Owner Valve announced that its showcase will now include AI disclosures from the developers. If AI was used in development, you could clearly see it on the game page.
Since then, you’ve probably seen a lot of Steam pages with a little AI that describes how the AI was used during development. This phenomenon, of course, begs the question: Is the use of artificial intelligence in game development hurting sales?
according to Research by Ross Burton, PhD, head of product and data at Game Oracle (via PCGamer), the using artificial intelligence hurts sales and apart from the cold hard cash, it also damages the reputation of the game.
Burton discovered this approx 21% Number of games released on Steam 2025 (prior to November) contained a disclosure for the use of some form of artificial intelligence. I can’t help but think that number has grown since then.
Steam’s recent Next Fest event, which showcased countless new games coming in the near future, was packed with games that were clearly created using artificial intelligence, some less innocuous than others.
Deciphering Steam’s numbers tells an important story
Steam does not disclose how many copies of specific games are sold; It remains for the developer to know and share it only if he likes it. However, Steam sales can be approximated by the number of reviews a title receives, and as Game Oracle points out, this is a proxy method used in the industry.
Game Oracle’s initial research, even on the surface level, is eye-opening. It studied about 10,000 Steam releases January and October 2025discovered that games that disclosed the use of artificial intelligence were merely average 4 reviews in the first month after release compared to 7 Reviews for non-AI games.
Almost 20% compared to , the games announced with artificial intelligence did not receive any reviews 15% for non-AI games. The scores were also biased towards titles with at least 100 reviews, with AI games averaging 84.6% compared to 88.3% for non-AI games.
AI games don’t get as much attention as non-AI games
Game Oracle built a causal statistical model to control for items such as a particular developer’s previous experience, publisher support (if any), genre, and release date. Games that fell into similar groups were then compared to each other to avoid interference from extraneous factors.
In this scenario, he got about games that disclose the use of AI 53% less feedback than non-AI games. So if the two games were released around the same time, non-AI games from developers with the same level of experience, similar support, and similar genre would theoretically get it. 100 Feedback when the AI takes over the game 47.
It’s a big gap and it’s not easy to ignore.
Established studios are being penalized more severely for using AI in game development
Of course, there are certain nuances in the research results. Game Oracle performed a sensitivity analysis to account for unmeasured factors such as marketing costs, raw talent, and pure luck.
It has been found that novice developers without a marketing budget are turning to AI, possibly simply due to a lack of other resources, with almost no negative impact on sales despite AI exposure. These games would struggle even without the use of AI.
They have the talent, the budget, and the know-how (factors that typically increase sales by 20% to 65%). They decide to experiment with AI to optimize their workflow. If this narrative is true – if the “good” studios use AI, the use of AI is disastrous (-40% to -60% drop in sales). This is evidenced by the dark blue cells at the top of our heatmap.
Ross Burton, PhD, Head of Product and Data at Game Oracle
It’s a different story for more established studios with existing following and previous titles. Game Oracle found that the use of artificial intelligence by these studios has resulted significantly 40% to 60% sales decline.
👉 Crimson Desert developers apologize for using generative AI
This is a big difference. The AI stigma hits competent developers with so much to lose the hardest stuff, and I’m not sure game studios are ready to accept that.
What AI branding means to players
I don’t think players are actively boycotting AI games. If I had to guess, I’d say the majority of Steam users never check AI disclosures and instead spend their disposable income on positive reviews.
games like Finals and Suck Up! The study cited examples of success using artificial intelligence. This is balanced by successes Black operation 7 and Jurassic World Evolution 3 as examples of brands that have suffered from the use of artificial intelligence.
The research comes to a point where Burton doesn’t know exactly what causes the negative impact on AI games.
Some may be inclined to jump to conclusions and claim that this is a consumer backlash, with players actively rejecting games that disclose the use of artificial intelligence. But there are many other factors as well.
Ross Burton, PhD, Head of Product and Data at Game Oracle
An interesting line that stands out to me is that AI often “linked to other decisions leading to a poorly designed game.“Burton suggests that the penalty for using artificial intelligence may be too great how it is used as how much is used.
Burton concludes the study by reminding us that artificial intelligence is not something to be avoided: “Be wary of AI. Use with care. It’s not a substitute for hard work, it’s just there to lighten the load.“
Do you agree? Let me know in the comment section below!
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