Gen AI in gaming has opened Pandora’s box and there’s no closing it, according to Mike Rose, founder of indie publisher No More Robots. In a recent interview, Rose declared “video games are cooked” as artificial intelligence floods Steam with low-effort, algorithmically-generated content that indie developers struggle to compete against.
Key Takeaways
- Mike Rose says gen AI in gaming is unstoppable and will only increase in use over time.
- About one-third of demos at the latest Steam Next Fest featured AI-generated key art or content.
- From a publisher perspective, gen AI is “mega annoying” because it dramatically increases competition on already-crowded platforms.
- Other publishers like Pocketpair and Hooded Horse share Rose’s concerns about AI flooding Steam.
- Gamers remain largely negative about gen AI in games, especially for creative uses like art and narrative.
Why Gen AI in Gaming Poses an Existential Problem for Indies
Rose’s frustration stems from a brutal reality: gen AI democratizes game creation but destroys the competitive moat that indie studios rely on. When anyone can prompt an AI to generate placeholder art, music, or even basic gameplay mechanics, the barrier to entry collapses. Steam launches were already “crazy,” Rose noted, but now they’re “just impossible.” During the last Steam Next Fest, he observed that roughly one-third of demos featured either AI-generated key art or AI-generated content entirely. That’s a staggering proportion of entries that required minimal human effort, minimal cost, and minimal creative risk.
The core problem isn’t that gen AI exists—it’s that humans are, as Rose puts it, “mega lazy.” Why spend months and money hiring artists, composers, and writers when you can type prompts into a bot? The economics are brutal. A solo developer with a budget of $5,000 now competes not just against other solo developers with $5,000, but against someone with $500 who generated everything with AI. That’s not competition; it’s extinction.
Rose frames gen AI’s inevitability with the metaphor of Pandora’s box. “We ain’t getting the lid back on the box,” he said. “It’s gonna get used now, and it’ll get used more and more.” He acknowledges that publisher sentiment doesn’t matter. “Our feelings on it don’t matter. It doesn’t matter that a bunch of us don’t like genAI. It’s gonna get used now.” This resignation reflects the powerlessness indie publishers feel—they can’t stop the tide, only navigate it.
Steam Next Fest Becomes a Dumping Ground for AI Content
The most damning evidence Rose cites is Steam Next Fest’s transformation into a proving ground for AI-generated games. Next Fest is supposed to showcase upcoming indie titles to players and press, giving developers a chance to build buzz and gather feedback. Instead, it’s become a platform where low-effort AI projects can compete for attention alongside genuine creative work. Publishing lead John Buckley from Palworld developer Pocketpair echoed the same observation, flagging the AI trend as a problem during the latest Next Fest. Other publishers like Hooded Horse have raised similar alarms about gen AI flooding Steam with lazy content.
This isn’t a niche problem. When a third of the showcase features AI-generated material, it signals that the platform’s curation is failing. Players searching for thoughtful indie games now wade through a sea of AI-generated noise. The signal-to-noise ratio collapses. Genuine developers who spent a year crafting a game get buried next to a 48-hour AI project that cost nothing to produce. That’s not just annoying—it’s demoralizing and economically destructive.
Gamers Aren’t Buying the AI Dream Either
Interestingly, players themselves aren’t enthusiastic about gen AI in games. Research from Quantic Foundry shows gamers are overwhelmingly negative about AI use in video games, particularly for creative applications like artwork, music, and narrative content. The negativity is strongest among players motivated by story and design—the very audiences indie games typically target. Some players show slight openness to non-creative uses like dynamic difficulty adjustment, but even that acceptance is modest. This creates a paradox: publishers feel pressured to use gen AI to cut costs, but players actively dislike the result.
The mismatch between publisher incentives and player preferences is unsustainable. Gen AI reduces development costs, which appeals to publishers chasing margins. But it produces games that players don’t want to play. For indie studios, this is catastrophic—their entire business model depends on player goodwill and word-of-mouth. Flooding Steam with AI slop damages that ecosystem for everyone.
Is Gen AI in Gaming Actually Unstoppable?
Rose’s pessimism may be justified. Once a technology reaches critical mass, reversing adoption is nearly impossible. Gen AI tools are free or cheap, widely available, and require no specialized knowledge. Regulation is years behind implementation. The only counterforce is cultural—if enough players refuse to buy AI-generated games, publishers will stop making them. But that assumes market discipline that rarely exists in practice. Publishers have proven willing to experiment with unpopular mechanics (like loot boxes in single-player games) if margins improve, even temporarily.
What Rose is really saying is that the indie game industry faces a bifurcation. On one side: publishers who use gen AI to maximize margins and flood platforms with low-effort content. On the other: studios that bet on human creativity and accept lower margins in exchange for player loyalty. The latter group will survive, but they’ll shrink. The former will dominate Steam’s recommendation algorithms and search results, making discovery harder for authentic work.
FAQ
What does Mike Rose mean by “video games are cooked”?
Rose means that gen AI has fundamentally changed the game development landscape in a way that cannot be reversed. The technology is too widely available and too cost-effective for publishers to ignore, so the flood of AI-generated content will only increase. For indie developers competing on creativity and craft, this makes the market unsustainably crowded.
How much of Steam Next Fest was AI-generated?
During the latest Steam Next Fest, Rose estimated that around one-third of the demos featured either AI-generated key art or AI-generated content. This proportion is significant enough to noticeably alter the showcase’s character and make discovery harder for players seeking human-made games.
Why is gen AI in gaming bad for indie publishers?
Gen AI dramatically increases competition by lowering the barrier to entry. A developer with a $500 budget can now generate art, music, and narrative content that would normally require hiring professionals. This undercuts the economics of indie studios that rely on human talent and craftsmanship. The result is platform saturation and reduced visibility for quality indie games.
Mike Rose’s bleak assessment reflects a genuine crisis in indie game publishing. Gen AI isn’t a tool that can be regulated away or ignored—it’s a structural shift that rewrites the economics of game creation. The only remaining question is whether enough players will reject AI-generated games loudly enough to make their creation unprofitable. Until then, Rose’s pessimism looks prescient.
This article was written with AI assistance and editorially reviewed.
Source: TechRadar
