// KOTAKU — GAMING
Epic Boss Tim Sweeney Calls Steam’s AI Declarations ‘Political’ And ‘Abhorrent’
The Tim Sweeney Stop Saying Stuff Challenge has been lost once again, as the Epic boss took to his X account over the weekend (thanks, IGN) to once again make clear his position that AI content disclosures on Steam are “abhorrent” and a forced “political statement.”
Sweeney recently attempted to take a swipe at Valve by releasing an updated, vibe-coded version of the god-awful Epic Games Store that he claimed ran so much faster than Steam, only for Steam to preemptively roll out its own update that already beat it. That was very funny. Now’s he back, this time expressing outrage at Valve’s requirement that developers announce if genAI was used in the production of a game. He has a dog in this fight: Just this month Sweeney horrified his own staff (well, those who remain after a thousand of them were fired) by declaring they had to pivot to AI-first development for a forthcoming Disney shooter.
On Friday, AI bro Matt Workman posted to his X account that “the premise of an AI Generated Content Disclosure is ABSURD in 2026,” calling it “truly embarrassing for a Valve and Steam.” Sweeney enthusiastically replied.
Forcing developers to write a political statement to be used against them by the hate mob they’re helping organize is abhorrent.
Forcing developers to write a political statement to be used against them by the hate mob they’re helping organize is abhorrent.
Calling things a “political statement” is a fun game played by those who like to suggest that anything with which they disagree must by necessity be some wack-a-doo extreme political position. Presumably Sweeney also considers the listing of ingredients on a food wrapper to be a “political statement,” forced by the wokies who demand consumers know if their dinner contains anthrax or worms.
This invective becomes more farcical when you recognize that Valve has been quietly watering down its own requirements for the AI declaration, this year removing the need to mention if AI was used when creating code. It instead only demands developers make clear if genAI was used for asset creation, voiceover, or translation and the like. And why? Because a lot of people don’t want to endorse the use of this environment-destroying, plagiarism-driven technology in games containing regurgitated slop based on the work of unpaid masses, in order to leave masses more unpaid. And those that don’t care can go ahead and buy it anyway.
Sweeney is suggesting that the required AI disclosures are causing “hate mobs” to go after developers who post them, adding later that “there is a real economic cost to Valve’s foray into forced political disclosures. Beside taking 30%, they’re also taking a potentially even larger fraction of developers’ revenues and livelihood by undermining their businesses with these AI hate campaigns.” For important context, Steam’s AI declarations are buried at the bottom of a store page in small text, alongside any content warnings. The word “potentially” is doing an awful lot of work in that statement.
Of course, if you’re someone who’s loudly promoting and pushing for the use of the slop, those who object on any grounds are far easier to dismiss as having a “political” objection rather than a “moral” one. It’s much more comfortable to declare yourself “apolitical” than “amoral.” Also, if you’re someone who has spent vast fortunes attempting to establish a rival PC gaming store only for barely anyone to have ever heard of it, let alone use it, you probably feel a bit miffed.
This is only more frustrating because of how desperately the world needs a valid and successful rival to Steam, given the monopoly it has and the outrageous gouging of developers’ income it can therefore get away with. The Epic Games Store wasn’t it, despite laudable policies like taking no cut at all until a game sells a million dollars’ worth, and then taking only 12 percent, compared to Valve’s 30 percent from day one. It’s a clumsy and clunky piece of software that doesn’t offer a fract