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Valve Addresses AI Game Cloning and "AI Slop" Threats at Steam Indie Connect Korea At the Steam Indie Connect event in South Korea, Valve business representatives Tom Giardino and Marc Wilkinson took the stage to address growing concerns among independent game developers regarding AI-assisted asset cloning, extortion schemes, and the influx of low-quality "AI slop" on the Steam storefront. During the panel, developers voiced alarms over bad actors using generative AI to rapidly replicate indie game mechanics and art assets in some extreme cases even attempting extortion by demanding payment from original creators to prevent clone releases. Valve's Stance on AI Tools, Community Defense, and Next Fest Recommendation Algorithms Asset Cloning, Extortion, and Valve’s Anti-Gatekeeping Policy: Pre-AI Origins with Accelerated Velocity : Giardino acknowledged that game cloning on Steam predates recent advances in generative AI. However, he noted that generat...

Ubisoft Eliminates Required Launcher Installs on Steam with Launch of Lightweight Connect Services Integration In a major shift for PC gaming distribution, Ubisoft has announced the phase-out of its mandatory standalone launcher, Ubisoft Connect , for titles purchased directly through Valve’s Steam platform. To streamline startup times and improve player retention, the publisher is replacing its heavy background software client with a targeted background utility called Ubisoft Connect Services for Steam . Eliminating Launcher Redundancy for Steam Gamers For over a decade, PC gamers purchasing Ubisoft titles on third-party storefronts were forced to navigate a multi-tiered launching process: The Dual-Launcher Friction: Historically, launching a Ubisoft game on Steam required the automatic background installation and execution of Ubisoft Connect. This secondary layer often caused login prompts, extra RAM usage, overlay conflicts, and offline compatibility issues. Targeted Background I...

Nexus Mods Formally Acquires SteamDB to Supercharge PC Modding Capabilities Nexus Mods , the premier platform for PC video game modifications, has officially announced the acquisition of SteamDB , the widely respected third-party database tracking Steam platform metrics and application data. The integration is designed to bolster SteamDB’s backend infrastructure and secure its long-term operational sustainability. A Transition Driven by Community Scale and Infrastructure Demands Founded in 2013 by developers xPaw and Marlamin as a passion project, SteamDB grew over a decade to become the definitive analytical repository for Steam player counts, price histories, inventory systems, and backend patch updates. Following Marlamin’s departure several years ago, the burden of managing the massive platform fell entirely on xPaw. As global user traffic scaled, maintaining real-time database synchronization became too resource-intensive for a single administrator. Seeking a partner with shared c...

Valve Discontinues Physical Steam Gift Cards Globally to Combat Rampant Retail Fraud and Impersonation Scams Valve has officially announced that it is completely halting the production and sale of physical, paper-based Steam Gift Cards . Moving forward, the digital PC gaming giant will pivot exclusively to an all-digital gift card architecture , citing the widespread exploitation of physical retail cards by international syndicate scammers as the primary driver behind the historic decision. Steam Gift Cards have long been among the most heavily targeted vectors for financial fraud, alongside other prominent retail gift cards from major technology and e-commerce ecosystems. The mechanics of these financial scams typically follow a highly structured behavioral playbook: Malicious actors employ aggressive social engineering tactics to coerce vulnerable targets into purchasing physical gift cards at brick-and-mortar retail locations or convenience stores. The fraudulent justifications var...

  The November 2025 Steam Hardware & Software Survey reveals that the number of Windows 11 users increased by approximately 2% in a single month, reaching 69.2% and becoming the primary operating system for gamers on Steam, completely replacing Windows 10. Meanwhile, Windows 10 continued to decline, reaching only 29.06%. Linux also set a new record, with its user share increasing to a record 3.2%. This is partly due to the popularity of Steam Deck and the continued development of Proton/SteamOS, leading some users to migrate from Windows 10 to Linux. macOS stood at 2.02%, a slight decrease, but the overall picture remained largely unchanged.

Steam platform for digital game users most Best of 2017 which has several categories. The ranks the best selling game. Game rank out new best-selling each month. VR game rank the best-selling game rank dropped from the Early Access in 2017 that sold the most. And the final game rank top players to play simultaneously as high as possible. The best-selling game on Steam top 12 in 2017, based on sales of the game, in-game transactions and DLC included.