As of April 2024, about 1,000 games on Steam were labeled as using generative AI, or 1.1% of all games on the store. In just over a year, that number has grown to nearly 8,000, or 7% of the entire library, according to research by Totally Human Media.
By 2025, one in five games released on Steam would have a generative AI tag, a total of 7,818 of the approximately 114,126 games available on the platform.
Most of all, AI technologies are used to generate visual assets — characters, backgrounds, 2D/3D models, textures, etc. This accounts for 60% of all AI usage marks. In addition, the technology is used to generate audio, including voiceovers, as well as text, ranging from descriptions of objects to entire storylines.
Of course, artificial intelligence was also used for coding. New technologies are also being used to generate marketing and promotional materials, such as game descriptions, social media banners, Steam pages, and much more.
It's worth noting that the decision to flag AI on Steam is made by the developers themselves. Some don't, which has already caused scandals — like the recent case of The Alters, where the developers failed to disclose the use of AI for localization. This makes it difficult to accurately determine the number of games that use this technology.