Almost half of all new Steam games use AI now

Almost half of all games released on Steam in October 2026 disclosed the use of AI-generated content, according to a new analysis of more than 63,000 games released on the platform since January 2024.

Valve introduced mandatory AI disclosures in January 2024, requiring developers to declare certain uses of generative AI in their games.

At the time, just 1.7% of new releases carried an AI disclosure. That figure has since climbed to 49.9% in October 2026, almost double the 26.4% recorded during the same month last year.

The findings come from Reddit user u/ploz, who analyzed Steam's publicly available data to track how frequently developers disclose AI-generated content.

AI disclosures on Steam surge

According to the analysis, which covered approximately 63,600 games, the proportion of new Steam releases disclosing AI use has increased steadily over the past three years.

Across 2024, 13.2% of games disclosed AI-generated content, rising to 24% in 2025. So far in 2026, that figure has reached 40.1%, with October recording the highest monthly percentage in the dataset at 49.9%.

The analysis also found that AI disclosure is much more common for smaller games.

Of the titles released in 2026 with fewer than 10 Steam reviews, 47% disclosed AI use. Among games with at least 1,000 reviews, that figure dropped to just 14%.

What are they using AI for?

Developers releasing lots of games were the most likely to disclose AI content. Those responsible for 10 or more releases in 2026 reported AI use in 68% of their games, compared to 37% among developers with just one release.

AI-generated artwork was the most common application, appearing in 63% of disclosures. Text and translations accounted for 30%, followed by store page and marketing materials at 26%, music at 21%, and code at 16%.

AI-generated voices appeared in just 7% of disclosures, while only 3% of games reported using AI to generate content during gameplay.

In October, one popular game had to take out a loan to keep the free demo running, because its AI bill was climbing so high.

It's also not possible to say that this is all the games using AI, as Steam's disclosures rely on developers reporting it themselves, so undisclosed AI content is not included.

Valve also changed its disclosure requirements in January 2026 to focus on AI-generated content players can see or hear, rather than tools used behind the scenes during development.