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Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

A cheeky trip up Paris with @arndreth.bsky.social and Matt for Electric Callboy.

(Yeah I was too busy for the London gig so why not pop over the channel instead)

January 18, 2026 at 8:02 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

2) I believe Valve will de-emphasise the AI disclosure. I don't think they'll get rid of it, but they'll remove it from store pages.

AI is now a branding issue, and I wonder if AAA studios will pressure Valve into hiding it from the public to minimise blowback.

www.aiandgames.com/i/183536510/...

While I believe thousands of games will submit the AI content disclosure, I also think Steam’s owners Valve will de-emphasise it some degree. In fact it was interesting to see George Osborn made a similar comment over on his VGIM predictions last week, but I don’t quite agree with him 100%.

In his issue George states that the AI content disclosure on Steam will be removed entirely, rather than going for a smarter solution of having more granularity in their submissions process - a point I have argued for several times.

While I agree Valve would rather do away with it, I suspect they will keep it around given the likes of EU AI Act has transparency obligations for when software users are interacting with an AI system. Meanwhile generative AI providers (and users) must have a way of identifying what outputs are artificial. So I suspect for legal reasons it will be useful as a storefront to still have the AI disclosures as part of Steam’s submission process. At least they will have a record of which titles fall under this should lawmakers in Brussels start having a look at what Valve is up to.

That said, I think they’ll go the route of de-emphasising the disclosure on store pages, potentially removing them entirely. While this will no doubt anger many a gamer who actively hunt down and call out the slop filling up the storefront, Valve will be more interested in placating the bigger players in the space. Larger AAA studios who are continuing to explore generative technologies, as their adoption is becoming more pervasive - notably in non-creative aspects of game development. Larger companies will see it as an issue they don’t want to face blowback from, and so minimising the disclosure from the consumer-facing side of Steam will be considered.

January 14, 2026 at 6:18 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

1) I'm really worried about Steam this year. Even more so than before. Over 4000 games were released in 2025 with the AI-content disclosure. There's hundreds of AI shovelware games coming to market each year.

This will get worse for sure.

www.aiandgames.com/i/183536510/...

SteamDB info showing AI content disclosures:
2023: 133
2024: 2148
2025: 4313

#1 AI-Tagged Steam Games Will Explode
Let’s start by returning to the AI disclosures on Steam. Last year I reported that by the middle of 2025 there were over 2000 games on steam that had reported their AI disclosure. By the end of 2025, that number reached 4311: a 100% increase on 2024 when Valve’s policy became more formalised, and a 4750% increase since Steam started monitoring AI use on the store in 2023. In addition, at the time of writing we are well on our way to having the total for 2026 exceed all of 2023 - and it’s only the middle of January.

20,004 games were released on Steam in 2025, an 8% increase on 2024, and a 42% increase on 2023. Meaning 22% of all games released on Steam in 2025 ticked yes on the AI content disclosure. While I expect the total number of games in 2026 to increase on last year by around 8-10%, I expect far more low-quality games to continue to use AI tools for art and code, to a point that I’m willing to make two predictions:

At least 7000 titles will have the AI content disclosure in 2026.

One third of all games released on Steam in 2026 will have AI content disclosed.

Is this something I’m excited by? Not really. As I discussed in my article on the subject last year, the broader adoption of generative AI in game development has led to a fundamental problem of AI shovelware flooding storefronts on everywhere from Steam to PlayStation, Xbox and the Nintendo eShop. A problem of quality control that makes it harder for small indies making decent product to stand out in the crowd.

January 14, 2026 at 6:18 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

Well, throughly enjoyed Metroid Prime 4 until the last 5% of it.

Didn't mind much of the broader design changes - some work, some don't and like every entry in the series it has it's own flavour.

BUT... in classic series fashion the final boss is just infuriating and not fun. Consistency! 🤣

December 23, 2025 at 9:08 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

Fuck.
That.
Shit.

YouTube Shorts: You now have access to a bundle of new generative AI tools that make creating shorts easier and more fun.

December 17, 2025 at 7:26 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

I know you know how stupid content ID is but...

It's December 2025, and YouTube still thinks I own the copyright to the opening cinematic for Left 4 Dead.

I've only told them *several times* this is not mine, but hey, new copyright flags hit my account every other week.

A series of YouTube videos that are flagged in the AI and Games content id (copyright flagging) backend.

December 16, 2025 at 9:14 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

Well it's my birthday this week and I'm actually taking some time off.

In the meantime we've kicked off 50% off annual subs to @aiandgames.com meaning you can support us for like less £3/$4 a month.

Help us combat the nonsense AI hype and highlight the good work people do in the sector!

Our subscription tiers on our website aiandgames.com, with annual individual subs at £30 / $40 a year.

Our patreon page (patreon.com/aiandgames) showing 50% off annual subs

December 4, 2025 at 8:33 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

2025 is the year when clips of @aiandgames.com as shorts and tiktkoks have had better reach than the actual videos.

YouTube is increasingly a dead platform for long form content.

November 28, 2025 at 11:43 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

Surely this is up there with when Rishi Sunak thought he could wear trainers like a normal person?

I'm honestly surprised Mario Kart escaped unscathed after he mentioned he liked it.

November 25, 2025 at 5:15 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

I have a lot to say on this that I will refrain from posting here. But it's a complex issue. We have used AI in so many ways in game development for decades and will continue to do so. But we must consider the ethical implications of the work, and whether it's worth your hard-earned cash.

In summary, I feel that the sad truth of the situation is that we now exist in an age where so much emphasis is placed on the consumer understanding how and why AI technology is being employed in commercial products. By understanding this, you can make a decision that reflects your own personal politics.

I have condensed everything from this piece into the questions below, and now I ask you - the reader- to consider this in the context of any of the AI-laden games mentioned in this issue:

Livelihoods: Does the use of (machine learning/generative) AI impact the livelihoods of workers involved in the project?

Replacement: Do you feel the use of AI in the project is a means to replace professional talent as a whole?

Enhancement: Does the use of AI fail to enhance the quality of the final product?

Substitution: Do you think the features in this game can be achieved at similar or acceptable levels of quality without generative AI?

If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then you have to ask yourself whether you are willing to part with your hard-earned cash. It’s sadly just another level of diligence required if you’re aiming to try and engage in any form of (near) ethical capitalism. Sadly adding to the 101 other political issues that might influence your purchase habits.

November 19, 2025 at 11:00 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

As discussed, Arc Raiders uses numerous types of AI for behaviour, for animation, and for in-game voices. But it's the use of generative AI for the voices (trained on human voice actors) that is the cause for concern.

It's important to ask yourself: for every 'gain' AI creates, who losing out?

The Arc Raiders situation is undoubtedly complicated, but it speaks to broader issues with the ethical adoption of AI technologies in game development. Perhaps critically, I think it raises the importance of consumers being conscious of how these technologies are being adopted, and the impact it has on the livelihoods of others, in a way that we historically have not had to think about with AI in game development until the last couple of years.

From my perspective, the key thing we should be thinking about is as follows:

When we utilise AI technology for every gain achieved, who is losing out as a result?

In this context, I think voice actors, players, and the industry at large are losing out from this decision. Let’s dig into why I think that is.

November 19, 2025 at 10:54 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

New header image perhaps?

The phrase "I'm Tommy Thompson, and this is AI and Games" in the style of the Zohran Mamdani campaign font.

November 9, 2025 at 7:25 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

We have tons of official photos to share. They'll all be going up next week but I have a batch of stuff on my phone and it just makes me smile every time.

Yetunde Longe-Folajimi presenting on explainable metrics on pathfinding for level generation.

November 8, 2025 at 10:01 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

Still just buzzing from running the @conference.aiandgames.com this week. Bringing our community together to learn from each other and just have a good time is so rewarding - and so much work!!! 😅

Crowds of game developers in the social area having a chat over coffee

Close up shot of game developers having a chat

November 8, 2025 at 9:58 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

Good lord am I tired.

I did the big thank you over on LinkedIn, but we did it.

2025 @conference.aiandgames.com is in the bag.

The only way to combat the hype that plagues AI in game dev is to fight back with knowledge, experience, compassion, and community.

And we're just getting started...

November 5, 2025 at 6:25 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

And as I say toward the end, generative AI is not the solution to game AI's challenges. More often than not, game AI is the solution to generative AI's failings.

But equally, generative AI could be useful in very specific cases if we used it in meaningful ways.

Instead, the loudest of AI hype merchants try to reframe game AI as the things generative AI is more likely to address successfully. It then leads to us talking about the same things over and over again…

Non-player characters that can utter realistic and emergent dialogue.

Of running emergent narrative systems that can generate infinite stories.

Of crafting NPCs that can react to human players through natural language processing.

This of course doesn’t cover the full gamut of ideas being raised - given much of the conversation is on cost cutting and changing existing paradigms - but let me stress for right now I’m focussing purely on game AI here. Now note that none of these things are topics I’ve raised thus far in this piece, and that’s because while they are a challenge, they often don’t really fall under what game AI tackles.

Now the thing is, generative AI is really good at context-sensitive decision making: we see this through use of few-shot prompts in LLMs to solve problems in context, by processing new information in real-time. It is capable of handling real-time problems, provided they have been scoped sufficiently, and the models trained with this in mind to some degree.

But on the flip side, generative AI is terrible at building meaningful and rich outputs. This is literally where we need good writers, good artists, good designers, to create the context we need. But rather, I don’t want to simply assimilate all of that data into a trained AI model to regurgitate without nuance, I would much rather I can get my model to guide me to it more efficiently.

October 29, 2025 at 6:16 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

This situation is through no fault of the amazing game devs who I work with, and whose work I report on and disseminate. Far from it. I'm always amazed by the innovation occurring in the scene.

But as I describe, I feel that innovation is stymied by commercial reality.

So to get into the meat of my thesis, I want to talk first about the immediate future of game AI, and some of the concerns that have rattled around in my head the past few years. These largely fall under four specific themes:

Game AI techniques as they stand are struggling under the weight of contemporary game design.

There is a need for ongoing experimentation in game AI methods, but game productions seldom have the time to explore new ideas.

As a result, we confine our thinking to designing against known systems, rather than design systems for purpose.

Amongst all of this, generative AI is often incorrectly held aloft as a solution, failing to understand what the real problems are, and what benefits machine learning could bring to this sector.

Now before I get into the weeds here, I want to take a moment to express unreservedly that this is neither a reflection, nor a condemnation of the hard work of so many programmers, designers, and other developers who build these systems out there in the games industry. One of the most rewarding aspects of what I do, be it to communicate game development to a broader audience, to support studios in building their own games, or heck… make my own game AI systems, is engaging with so many amazingly smart and talented individuals. Many of whom I consider colleagues and friends. Making games is difficult, and every game that makes it out there in the wild is a real victory. My argument here is more a reflection of our industry, and how we exist within it. That the situation we are in is brought more by the broader business factors of the sector than the performance of individual contributors.

In truth, what I’m talking about is risk: about the need to mitigate and manage risk. The games industry has always been interesting to me in that it’s one of the most innovative and forward-facing technology sectors. But on the software side, games have always been one of the most risk-averse of all the creative sectors.

This is largely due to games being an expensive, yet speculative proposition. Every new game is full of unknowns, of whether a particular design idea will work, whether a feature resonates with players. But even prior to that, of knowing what is the right solution to a problem, of knowing what is the best approach to take to deal with the challenges we face.

October 29, 2025 at 6:16 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

As I state from the top, this is not a rant about generative AI, but it is a symptom of an ecosystem that has failed to address its broader challenges.

We need to be having a bigger conversation about how game AI R&D has largely stagnated while money is piled into shiny new AI hotness.

This is Not a Rant About Generative AI, but it is one of the factors that has led to my writing this piece. Rather this is a sentiment that has been brewing in my mind for the past couple of years, and I figured it was time I put it all down in writing, and gave it a voice. By making my thoughts on this a little clearer, I want to drive a discussion in our community over how we address it.

This Thesis is a Reflection of the Fragility of the Video Games Industry. I think a lot about how the games industry is this big, expansive, and powerful sector, but it is equally one that is often fraught with challenges, and relies on inconsistent and unreliable strategies in how it funds projects, how it nurtures talent, and how it builds technology.

For me, as someone who has spent well over a decade researching, building, and communicating the intricacies of AI for the games industry, I think Game AI currently has some very specific challenges:

Addressing how risk consumes our capability for experimentation.

Assessing how we design to systems, rather than design for purpose.

Considering how knowledge is exchanged, paywalled, or lost.

Discussing how our communities, while wonderful, are fraught and threatened by the world they exist within, and the voices louder than them.

This is a Challenge We Can Address Together: We will figure this out, that of which I am certain. I meet many people across the sector who share in the values that we have both here at AI and Games, alongside my friends who run Game AI Events CIC with me - organisers of the AI and Games Conference.

We have the capacity to make this happen, but in order for us to combat the issue, it needs to be brought into the light.

October 29, 2025 at 6:08 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

Given our conference is ran via a non-profit organisation, @aiandgames.com foot the bill for manufacturing these wee guys. All profits made from their sale go directly to Game AI Events CIC, and help support our conference into 2026 and beyond.

BTW, their name is 'Crit', and I love'em dearly.

Me holding 'Crit' in my hand. They look cute as fuck.

October 29, 2025 at 2:48 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

I was a big fan of Streets of Rage 4 by Dotemu, Guard Crush Games and Lizardcube.

So having Absolum (by Guard Crush) and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (by Lizardcube) come out within weeks of each other has been a real treat.

Loving both of these games right now. Snappy crunchy fun, and gorgeous.

October 26, 2025 at 1:54 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

I do play games that are NOT based on the Alien IP you know!

*stares at Steam home page...*

Mostly...

'Playing Now' collection on Steam shows:
Alien: Rogue Incursion - Evolved Edition
Aliens: Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Bunker
Assassin's Creed: Shadows

October 14, 2025 at 8:29 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

I feel like this is going to be an evergreen meme for the next few years.

(Props to @elbi.bsky.social who posted this in the @aiandgames.com Discord server)

Henry Cavill / Jason Mamoa meme where the latter sneaks up on the former.

Cavill text: Tommy (me) focussing on his backlog.
Mamoa text: The Alien: Isolation sequel

October 14, 2025 at 8:23 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

Happy 40th birthday Super Mario Bros.

September 13, 2025 at 9:28 PM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

So officially in the camp of the "what were they thinking" crowd after taking my partner to see "Thursday Murder Club" in the cinema before it's out on Netflix.

They were super excited to see it - and I was too having only just started reading the series. Only it starts well and then just... Ugh.

A Thursday Murder Club themed photo board

August 26, 2025 at 6:54 AM

Tommy Thompson

@tommy.aiandgames.com

Oh, a good point to raise is that you should really click on the 'view license and product key activations'. Given most of my earlier Steam library came from Humble Bundles.

Not a huge change, but it does show I had a Steam account for two years and didn't use it.

August 15, 2025 at 2:29 PM

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