Epic CEO Tim Sweeney Attacks Valve's Steam AI Disclosures In Heated Rant

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney isn’t a fan of the AI content disclosure policy Valve has implemented on its dominant digital gaming storefront, Steam. It has apparently bothered Sweeney enough that he’s taken to social media to decry it, claiming the consumer-friendly policy only serves to hurt game developers. The criticism comes as his company’s upcoming Unreal Engine 6 will be integrating more AI tooling to assist game developers.

When developers submit their projects to Steam, they’re asked to disclose if AI technology was used to create different aspects of a title, such as its artwork, soundtrack, or language translation. This information is then provided on the game’s store page, so that potential customers know how AI was used during the development process.

In a post on the social media platform X, Sweeney opined that this policy is “forcing developers to write a political statement” that’s then “used against them by the hate mob”—referring to the mass of users on social media that see red anytime the topic of AI comes up. Many users were quick to push back against this rather hyperbolic assertion, with one replying, “consumers should be able to see what they’re buying.”

Sweeney was unmoved by responses that framed it as a policy meant to help users make informed purchases and doubled down on the political angle. “These AI statements are just as partisan as mandatory political essays or forcing developers to list their voting history to drive cancel campaigns and public struggle sessions,” posted Sweeney.

Putting aside how Sweeney is choosing to criticize Valve’s AI disclosure policy, is this policy hurting every developer that deploys AI? Not really. The studio behind Arc Raiders, one of the surprise hits of 2025, didn’t hide the fact that the team used AI generated voices for a lot of the game’s characters. A year later the game is still going strong and delivering new content drops to over 80,000 daily concurrent players.

The most puzzling aspect of this situation is that Sweeney isn’t using it as an opportunity to differentiate his company’s own game store front. He could be selling it to game developers as a better place to put their games because it doesn’t emphasize what technologies are used when making a title. Instead, the Epic Games Store continues to languish lacking features that Steam has had for a decade, like discussion forums and user reviews. Then again, Sweeney may not be too interested in helping consumers make informed decisions.