Valve建议关注AI克隆游戏的开发者专注于社区建设和一致更新。 与玩家建立的信任成为了对抗克隆游戏的最强屏障，通过更新不断添加的特征和明显身份不能轻易地被复制成单一的机械师。 Valve's Steam Business Team在10月27日举行的"Steam Indie Connect"开发者活动中分享了这些见解，称让真版成为最佳版本长期以来一直是Valve的核心原则。
该活动由Valve、釜山Indie连接节组织委员会和韩国创意内容机构共同主办。 登上舞台的是Valve的Steam Business Team的Tom Giardino和Marc Wilkinson，由本地化团队的Matt参加QQA会话，后者负责监督Steam和Valve游戏的30种语言的翻译。 在AI生成的游戏泛滥中，Valve代表直接向韩国开发者解释了Steam如何处理能见度和校正。
发布不是终点线是起点线
汤姆·贾迪诺(英语：Tom Giardino)在开场白中介绍了Steam目前状况的最新情况。 根据演示材料"Steam",2003年9月12日发布发布，最近全球同步用户达到4350万人的高峰。 韩国的Steam收入总额在过去5年中增长了126%，保费游戏和DLC收入同期增长了70%，游戏中购买收入也猛增了388%.
随后他概述了发布的准备过程——跨越了"来快"(Coming Soon)的页面，演示，"下个节日"(Next Fest)，播放测试，设定了正式发布日期，并建立了评论——评论说"发布感觉像终点线，但它实际上是起点线". 他还敦促开发人员不要完全依赖Steam，而是要同时使用控制台，其他PC商店，Discord，以及社交媒体。
马克·威尔金森推出新工具。 其中的关键是Wishlist Data API，它允许开发者通过指定一个 App ID 和日期范围来取回wishlist 数据，以及从Steam Labs 实验过渡到正式存储功能的"个人日历". "个人日历"建议即将上映的发布被具有类似玩法风格的玩家所列出的"愿望"，游戏必须有一个设定的正式发布日期才能在其上出现。
威胁邮件说"我们将用AI和发布先复制你的游戏"——Valve的回答
关于人工智能克隆的问题源于一种具体的威胁。 一位开发商分享道，Indie开发商最近收到勒索邮件威胁，"如果你不付钱，我们将用AI克隆出你的游戏并首先发布". 开发者虽然理解了在发布前展示游戏的建议，但指出这种威胁可能会使创作者犹豫不决并询问Steam是否有保护措施。
汤姆·贾迪诺表示遗憾，指出这是他第一次听到此类勒索案件。 他从Valve关于新技术的基本原则开始。 "我们不想成为守门人，告诉开发者他们应该或不应该使用哪些工具"，他称表示，是否在开发中使用AI是开发者自己的决定。
然而，他指出克隆游戏早在AI之前就已存在。 在下届盛会期间发现一个有趣的概念，并迅速制作一个类似的游戏或追逐趋势，一直发生；AI只是加快了这个速度。
他将此设定为给开发者带来两个挑战。 第一个是社区。 建立开发商网站，与玩家接触，建立身份和信任，是抵御克隆游戏的一线防线，无论是否涉及AI. 然而，他补充说，由于这需要时间而且不会自动发生，单靠社区是不够的。
第二是不断改进。 他强调，这项任务对担心AI克隆的小型印地安工作室和经营多塔的Valve来说同样重要。
作为证据，他指出了Valve关于反海盗的哲学。 在历史上，Valve没有采取DRM或反海盗措施。 相反，它把重心放在使合法版本成为最佳版本的可用性上，他解释说Valve通过同一种镜头看待AI克隆。 Giardino 称，"与其依赖一个人可以轻易地复制的单一机械师，你还需要通过增加从自己角度产生的特性，个性，和创造力来继续成长你的游戏".
在对勒索本身划出一条线的同时，他保持通信渠道畅通。 他指出，这种敲诈勒索更接近执法机构解决问题，而不是一个游戏平台。 即便如此，他又说："如果你向我们报告这类案件，我们想进一步调查这些案件，并尽力提供帮助".
'AI Slop' 达到下届盛会——"头两天使用随机曝光"
还提出了AI slop(与AI制作的低品质游戏)的问题。 最近参加"下一场盛会"的开发商指出，社区频道和社交媒体上都出现了关于低品质游戏涌入的投诉，并提到自己经历了令人失望的结果。 他们询问Valve是否意识到这一问题，以及是否为下一届盛会计划了解决办法。
马克·威尔金森解释了"下个盛会"的能见度结构。 在赛事的前两天，游戏几乎随机向玩家展示。 之后，个性化的推荐被踢出，浏览出更多玩家可能欣赏并购买的游戏。 他指出，许多抱怨低质量游戏泛滥的文章都是完全基于前两天的写作。
他也分享了随机开始背后的原因。 目的是防止那些试图提早进入的人滥用系统，只是为了获得即时的能见度，并在下届盛会期间给每场游戏一个公平的曝光份额。 "我们承认取舍是一些低品质的游戏被曝光"，他称。 "我们完全了解形势，有相当一部分人正想着如何解决这个问题".
汤姆·贾迪诺强调了规模的转变。 就在三年前，他四处想说服开发商参与，说："只有50或100个游戏，所以你绝对应该加入"，但现在参与标题的数量达到了上千个。 他将其描述为"向相反方向摇摆的倒笔".
他还指出，每场比赛成功的基准测试不同。 在下届盛会期间，有些头衔超乎寻常地赢得了10 000名愿望者——比以前总数增加了三倍——而另一些头衔则在获得50 000人之后感到失望，因为它没有达到预期。 "作为平台运营商，我们无法定义单个游戏的成功意味着什么"，他称解释说，Valve选择为"下个盛会"和"季节性销售"同时将门打开，同时不断完善页面布局和布局。
他指出，这一关切并非新问题。 约14年前Steam Greenlight 发布时，开发者询问是否可以过滤出绿光游戏。 当目前的自发出版系统Steam Direct(Steam Direct)是推出时，请求输入一个复选箱来隐藏Steam Direct游戏。 每一次，Valve都选择改进购物体验，而不是让开发者离开或试图从坏游戏中预滤出好游戏。
Giardino 称","我们并不认为我们是完美的，还有很大的改进余地"，但补充说"而不是限制开发商的准入，让Steam成为更聪明更活泼的平台是我们哲学的起点".
"Wishlists对能见度没有影响——它们是一个营销的温度计".
与能见度有关的问题向愿望列表和个人日历过渡。 一位开发商观察到，由于Steam的主页主要关注新发布中的顶级销售商，所以工作室执意追逐"唯利是图"的养殖业，"提高了协助出版商的重要性". 开发者期望通过"个人日历"进行个性化推荐对Indie游戏曝光至关重要，因此询问Valve扩展功能的意图以及开发者应如何准备。
马克·威尔金森首先纠正了对"愿望列表"的误解。 他澄清说，虽然"希望榜"是营销业绩的好指标，但并不影响Steam上的能见度。 "驱动知名度的是购买和玩游戏的人数"，他强调。 他分享了发布与300万发愿榜的游戏实例，但由于用户经验差而导致销量下降并下架了上图，以及几乎没有发愿榜的游戏取得了巨大的成功。 他劝说不要唯愿主义者的耕作，敦促开发者专心于制作一款伟大的游戏。
汤姆·贾迪诺(Tom Giardino)重新定义了愿望列表的作用，指出许多开发者没有充分利用愿望列表来衡量营销的有效性。 例如，检查在运行广告后是否希望列表会增加，发布TikTok视频一周以测量反应，然后在其他平台测试不同的方法。 他指出，第一局的战术在几年后可能无法奏效。 "不要把愿望列表当作一个必须打入的魔法数字；用它们作为温度计或速度计来测量你努力的效果"(He 称).
他还详细介绍了个人日历背后的设计意图。 虽然只有子集用户在Steam Labs阶段测试了"个人日历"，但成为正式功能意味着将收集更多的玩家响应数据。 他解释道，这个特性与其他Steam特性不同，因为它围绕着惯用性。 虽然顶级商店推荐和顶级销售列表包括了几年前的游戏，如"GTA 5"或"战术突破法师"等，"个人日历"实际上是唯一专门用于全新的发布的空间。
他也没有隐瞒其局限性。 一旦发行后1-2周，个人日历上的曝光就不会再发生。 之后，打折，DLC，和游戏改进的艰苦工作依然存在。 然而，他指出，《个人日历》旨在深入目录。 "这款游戏是否是全球一流的销售商并不重要。 重要的是，是否有足够的信号表明它将受到你个人的欢迎"，他称表示，Valve会继续完善这个功能，这样游戏即使不是最优秀的销售者，也能与观众连接。
Dilemma Over Tags and Single-Player 选项——"设计选择，而不是商业选择"
关于标记的问题也是融资。 一个开发者为两个或两个以上玩家创建以合作为核心的游戏，询问单玩家标签或独行选项是否严重影响到希望列表的转换率和退款率，如果游戏只保留合作，如何在商店页面上进行沟通。
马克·威尔金森(Marc Wilkinson)回应说，特定的流派或特征并不能保证成功。 Steam有玩家喜欢VR，单打和多人游戏，而"It Takes Two"等只合作的游戏也取得了巨大的成功。 归根结底，他称，下到游戏质量。
汤姆·贾迪诺(Tom Giardino)指出"马拉松"(Marathon)和"ARC突击队"(ARC raiders)等主要标题在想独奏的球员和想和朋友一起打球的球员之间解决同样的难题。 他解释说，Valve从未通过流派或游戏类型来分析过希望列表转换率，因此他无法自信地说，加入单玩家标记会增加转换。 他取而代之地引用了Valve's 'Left 4 Dead'作为例子。 虽然最享受的是三个朋友，但不是每个人都有朋友，所以即使演奏独奏也是关键的设计目标，也提供接近多人的经验。
他建议，如果一个工作室有预算和资源来建造类似多人的机器人同伴，他们就应该走这条路；如果不走，他们就走这条路。
本文由 AI宝库自动抓取并翻译，版权归原作者所有；如需查看原文请点下方链接。
Valve has advised developers concerned about AI clone games to focus on community building and consistent updates. The trust built with players serves as the strongest barrier against clone games, and the features and distinct identity continually added through updates cannot be easily copied like a single mechanic. Valve's Steam Business Team shared these insights at the 'Steam Indie Connect' developer event held on October 27, stating that making the genuine version the best version has long been Valve's core principle.
The event was co-hosted by Valve, the Busan Indie Connect Festival Organizing Committee, and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). Taking the stage were Tom Giardino and Marc Wilkinson from Valve's Steam Business Team, joined for the Q&A session by Matt from the localization team, which oversees translations into 30 languages for Steam and Valve games. Amid a flood of AI-generated games, Valve representatives directly explained to Korean developers how Steam handles visibility and curation.
"Launch Is Not the Finish Line, It's the Starting Line"
Tom Giardino opened the presentation with an update on Steam's current status. According to the presentation materials, Steam, which launched on September 12, 2003, recently reached a peak of 43.5 million concurrent users worldwide. Total Steam revenue in South Korea grew 126% over the past five years, with premium game and DLC revenue increasing by 70% and in-game purchase revenue surging by 388% over the same period.
He then outlined the launch preparation process — spanning Coming Soon pages, demos, Next Fest, playtests, setting an official release date, and build reviews — remarking, "Launch feels like the finish line, but it's actually the starting line." He also urged developers not to rely solely on Steam, but to utilize consoles, other PC stores, Discord, and social media alongside it.
Marc Wilkinson introduced new tools. Key among them are the Wishlist Data API, which allows developers to retrieve wishlist data by period, country, and language by specifying an App ID and date range, and the 'Personal Calendar,' which transitioned from a Steam Labs experiment into an official store feature. The Personal Calendar recommends upcoming releases wishlisted by players with similar play styles, and games must have a set official release date to appear on it.
Threatening Emails Saying "We'll Copy Your Game with AI and Launch First" — Valve's Answer
The question regarding AI cloning stemmed from a specific threat. One developer shared that indie developers have recently been receiving extortion emails threatening, "If you don't pay, we'll clone your game with AI and release it first." While understanding the advice to showcase games prior to release, the developer noted that such threats could make creators hesitate and asked if Steam had protective measures in place.
Tom Giardino expressed regret, noting that this was the first time he had heard of such extortion cases. He started with Valve's underlying principle regarding new technologies. "We don't want to be gatekeepers telling developers which tools they should or shouldn't use," he said, stating that whether to use AI in development is a decision for the developers themselves.
However, he pointed out that clone games existed long before AI. Spotting an interesting concept during Next Fest and quickly making a similar game or chasing trends has always happened; AI has simply accelerated that pace.
He framed this as creating two challenges for developers. The first is community. Building a developer website, engaging with players, and establishing identity and trust serves as the first line of defense against clone games, whether AI was involved or not. However, he added that because it takes time and does not happen automatically, community alone is not enough.
The second is continuous improvement. He emphasized that this task is equally important for small indie studios worried about AI clones and for Valve, which operates Dota.
As evidence, he pointed to Valve's philosophy on anti-piracy. Valve has historically not been aggressive with DRM or anti-piracy measures. Instead, it placed weight on making the legitimate version the best version available, and he explained that Valve views AI cloning through the same lens. Giardino said, "Rather than relying on a single mechanic that someone can easily copy, you need to keep growing your game by adding features, personality, and creativity that stem from your own perspective."
While drawing a line on the extortion itself, he kept communication channels open. He noted that such extortion is closer to an issue for law enforcement agencies rather than a game platform to solve. Even so, he added, "If you report such cases to us, we want to look into them further and help in whatever way we can."
'AI Slop' Hits Next Fest — "First Two Days Use Random Exposure"
The issue of AI slop (low-quality games made with AI) was also brought up. A developer who recently participated in Next Fest noted that complaints had surfaced on community channels and social media about an influx of low-quality games, and mentioned having experienced disappointing results personally. They asked whether Valve was aware of the issue and if solutions were planned for the next Next Fest.
Marc Wilkinson explained the visibility structure of Next Fest. For the first two days of the event, games are shown to players on a virtually random basis. After that, personalized recommendations kick in, surfacing more games that a player is likely to enjoy and purchase. He pointed out that many articles complaining about a flood of low-quality games were written based solely on those first two days.
He also shared the reason behind starting randomly. It is to prevent system abuse by those trying to enter early just to gain immediate visibility, and to give every game a fair share of exposure during Next Fest. "We recognize that the trade-off is some low-quality games get exposed," he said. "We are fully aware of the situation, and a significant number of people are thinking about how to solve this problem."
Tom Giardino highlighted the shift in scale. Just three years ago, he was going around trying to convince developers to participate, saying, "There are only 50 or 100 games, so you should definitely join," but now the number of participating titles reaches into the thousands. He described it as "the pendulum swinging to the opposite side."
He also pointed out that the benchmark for success varies for each game. There are titles overjoyed to gain 10,000 wishlists during Next Fest — tripling their previous total — while others are disappointed even after gaining 50,000 because it fell short of expectations. "As platform operators, we can't define what success means for an individual game," he said, explaining that Valve chose to keep the doors open for both Next Fest and seasonal sales while continuously refining page layouts and placements.
He noted that this concern was not new. When Steam Greenlight launched around 14 years ago, developers asked if Greenlight games could be filtered out. When Steam Direct, the current self-publishing system, was introduced, requests came in for a checkbox to hide Steam Direct games. Every time, rather than turning developers away or trying to pre-filter good games from bad ones, Valve chose to improve the shopping experience.
Giardino said, "We don't think we're perfect and there's plenty of room for improvement," but added, "Rather than limiting developer access, making Steam a smarter and more dynamic platform is the starting point of our philosophy."
"Wishlists Have No Impact on Visibility — They're a Thermometer for Marketing"
Questions around visibility transitioned to wishlists and the Personal Calendar. One developer observed that because Steam's main front page has focused primarily on top sellers among new releases, studios have obsessively chased 'wishlist farming,' increasing the importance of publishers who assist with it. Expecting that personalized recommendations via the Personal Calendar will become crucial for indie game exposure, the developer asked about Valve's intentions for expanding the feature and how developers should prepare.
Marc Wilkinson first corrected a misconception regarding wishlists. He clarified that while wishlists are a good indicator of marketing performance, they do not affect visibility on Steam. "What drives visibility is the number of people buying and playing the game," he emphasized. He shared examples of games that launched with 3 million wishlists but suffered falling sales and dropped off top charts due to poor user experience, as well as games with virtually no wishlists that achieved massive success. He advised against wishlist farming, urging developers to focus instead on making a great game.
Tom Giardino redefined the role of wishlists, pointing out that many developers do not utilize wishlists enough to measure marketing effectiveness. For example, checking if wishlists increase after running an ad, posting TikTok videos for a week to gauge reaction, and then testing different methods on other platforms. He noted that tactics that worked for a first game might not work for a second game years later. "Don't treat wishlists as a magic number you have to hit; use them as a thermometer or speedometer to measure the effectiveness of your efforts," he said.
He also detailed the design intent behind the Personal Calendar. While only a subset of users tested the Personal Calendar during its Steam Labs phase, becoming an official feature means far more player response data will be gathered. He explained that this feature differs from other Steam features because it revolves around recency. While top store recommendations and top seller lists include games from years ago like 'GTA 5' or 'Tactical Breach Wizards,' the Personal Calendar is virtually the only space dedicated exclusively to brand-new releases.
He did not hide its limitations either. Once 1-2 weeks pass after release, exposure on the Personal Calendar does not happen again. After that, the hard work of discounts, DLC, and game improvements remains. Nevertheless, he noted that the Personal Calendar was designed to reach deep into the catalog. "It doesn't matter if this game is a global top seller. What matters is whether there are enough signals indicating it will be popular with you personally," he said, stating that Valve will continue to refine the feature so games can connect with their audience even if they aren't top sellers.
Dilemma Over Tags and Single-Player Options — "A Design Choice, Not a Business One"
Questions about tags were also raised. A developer creating a game centered on co-op for two or more players asked whether single-player tags or solo options heavily influence wishlist conversion rates and refund rates, and how to communicate it on the store page if the game remains co-op only.
Marc Wilkinson responded that specific genres or features do not guarantee success. Steam has players who enjoy VR, single-player, and multiplayer games alike, and co-op-only games like 'It Takes Two' have achieved massive success. Ultimately, he said, it comes down to game quality.
Tom Giardino pointed out that major titles like 'Marathon' and 'ARC Raiders' grapple with the same dilemma between players who want to play solo and those who play with friends. He explained that Valve has never analyzed wishlist conversion rates by genre or game type, so he couldn't confidently say that adding a single-player tag increases conversion. Instead, he cited Valve's 'Left 4 Dead' as an example. While best enjoyed with three friends, not everyone has friends available, so delivering an experience close to multiplayer even when playing solo was a key design objective.
He advised that if a studio has the budget and resources to build bot companions that approximate multiplayer, they should pursue that path; if not, they shou
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