Steams continues its crusade against AI-generated content by banning Idle Bloodlines, a small indie RPG that used such tools to create in-game assets.
Earlier this month, on 3 July, Valve issued a statement after a game developer criticised the company for banning their games due to the alleged use of "fairly obviously AI-generated assets."
Via Eurogamer, Valve mentioned:
Our goal is not to discourage the use of it on Steam; instead, we're working through how to integrate it into our already-existing review policies. Stated plainly, our review process is a reflection of current copyright law and policies, not an added layer of our opinion.
They would also add that developers need "to make sure they have the appropriate rights to ship their game."
In Idle Bloodlines' case, it seems the dev commissioned art for their idle RPG title; however, they opted for AI-generated images as they better suited the style of the game.
Via a Reddit thread, user pops-oclock, creator of Idle Bloodlines, explains:
This game was created using ai-generated assets and therefore goes against Steam's new policy. When I began this game I initially used purchased assets, but they don't quite match the aesthetics of the chaotic chimera filled world.
It seems, though, that the art they commissioned wasn't used in the process of creating the AI assets, thus Steam decided to ban Idle Bloodlines as it would likely break the policies of the company regarding artificially generated content.
Oddly enough, pops-oclock agrees with Steam's decision to ban Idle Bloodlines.
they probably worry about a big fish like Shutterstock bringing suit against them for using assets based on a data-set trained using their assets. I completely respect their decision.
It's unclear if pops-oclock will try to get Idle Bloodlines back on Steam using the art they commissioned prior to opting for AI art.
If you're interested in checking out the game, you can do so via Itch.io, a platform designed to give indie games a spotlight.