Steam Games With AI Disclosure Draw 53% Fewer Reviews in Study of 9,879 Releases
Updated
Updated · PC Gamer · Jun 21
Steam Games With AI Disclosure Draw 53% Fewer Reviews in Study of 9,879 Releases
1 articles · Updated · PC Gamer · Jun 21
Summary
A Game Oracle analysis of 9,879 Steam games released from January to October 2025 found developers disclosing AI use received about 53% fewer reviews after controlling for publisher, developer experience and genre.
17.9% of sampled games disclosed AI use, and those titles also showed slightly weaker reception overall: more had no reviews, and among games with at least 100 reviews, median ratings were about 4% lower.
Ross Burton said the penalty was strongest for larger, more established developers and for higher-potential games, while low-quality games saw little difference from AI use.
The report argues the pattern is unlikely to be explained away by hidden factors alone, estimating any missing variable would need to nearly triple the odds of AI adoption while also cutting review counts by 22%.
Even so, the study stops short of rejecting AI outright, saying outcomes depend on how it is used as major studios continue investing in the technology despite player skepticism.