Steam received 54 games tagged as “idler” in just one week, which ended on September 6, and most of them report some use of artificial intelligence. The survey, published by PC Gamer on Monday (7), shows how AI-assisted production is also beginning to increase the volume of similar titles competing for space in Valve's store.
Idle or incremental games are based on partially automatic progression, in which resources and numbers continue advancing with little player intervention. Steam already has 4,314 titles with the “idler” tag, according to data compiled by the outlet.
Among recent releases, PC Gamer identified very similar interfaces and visual structures in different games that declare AI use. In Brainrot Clicker, for example, the developer officially reports that generative tools assisted in creating visual assets, texts and other elements during development.
Meanwhile, Vespera, released on September 4, says it uses AI-generated images and other components produced with the technology. The visual resemblance among titles in this group reinforces a consequence of the fast-growing supply: new games are having to compete for attention in a storefront increasingly packed with products with similar looks and mechanics.
The episode is not isolated. A survey by developer Sulka Haro analyzed 53,597 games released on Steam between July 2023 and July 2026 and concluded that, by the middle of this year, approximately one in three new titles already featured a declaration of content produced with AI.
According to the study, releases with this type of notice went from about 13 per month before the requirement was implemented to approximately 530 per month in 2026. Haro estimates that between 60% and 90% of the recent growth in the monthly volume of releases is associated with games that declare some AI use.
The presence of the notice does not mean the entire game was created by artificial intelligence. Valve requires developers to disclose the use of the technology when content consumed by players — such as images, audio, narrative, or localization — is produced with AI assistance. Content generated during the game's runtime has additional security requirements.
The most immediate effect of this expansion is on the discovery of new titles. With hundreds of games arriving on the platform and a growing share using tools that reduce the cost and time of producing assets, independent developers are now competing for visibility in a catalog that grows faster and accumulates visually similar products.
