AI Slop is taking away one of the best games of summer. It’s hard to kill imitators
Knocking down clones can be a tired process for developers. Small studios have less time, energy and resources that can be dedicated to this process, and they are in the whimsical way of digital distribution platforms that exist in these games.
Wren Brier, UnpackThe creative director said that since the game was released in 2021, developer Witch Beam has reported more than 80 clones. “Sometimes it feels like Moore,” Brill said. Not only are these games essentially similar, but “blatant copyright infringement” can improve the game’s assets, even its name. “Most people use disassembled names or images to trick players into downloading something that isn’t even a game, just a series of ads,” she said.
When it comes to many AI-made clones, Brier says what that means. “They are not AI-made games, but AI-generated marketing images attached to a completely unrelated hasty skeleton tied together,” she said. “They are actually a scam: They are trying to trick players into buying bad products by using misleading images and pretending to be real games that players may have heard of.”
Cloning doesn’t always threaten developers’ profits – Agro Crab is confident in its bank account, thanks to peakGreat success – but damage can be prevalent in other ways. Brill said that AI-Clones hurt developers, just like AI books hurt the author: “Drown the garbage with garbage, no one wants to play, which makes it impossible for players to discover independent games organically.” Game certification, the process of entering the platform, was once more stringent.
“It’s not a problem for cloned games, it’s a problem for all of us,” Brill said.
For developers, no matter how they make it, there aren’t many options to fight cloning. Intellectual property attorney Kirk Sigmon said cloning is already difficult to resolve legally. Copyright protection does not extend to genres, aesthetics, or even game mechanics. “[AI] “It can definitely make the Slop generation faster, but the problem has been around for twenty years,” he said. “What really happens is that for new entrants, the bars move slightly lower because you can make AI models for you pump out faster.”
The simplest cases of copyright infringement usually happen when the game is lifted directly from the game – as it happens Unpack. “It is not uncommon for counterfeit games to accidentally (or intentionally) copy assets from their knocking games,” he said.
In fact, AI-generated games can actually better protect copyright infringement lawsuits, Sigmon said. “After all, if the copycat developers are savvy, they will use AI models to develop unique assets/code instead of stealing it from another game, or just downloading it from some random internet source,” he said. “This will make it more difficult for them to follow them in court, for better or worse.”
The platform eventually took over the power to give up cloning the storefront, although smaller developers were the first to submit reports and sort out who they talk to. Sometimes, the process is fast and packaged in a few days; sometimes it can take weeks. Social pressure is probably the best defense a developer has. Sigmon said complaining to the storefront or recruiting fans is a viable solution. “I don’t know a lot of gamers, they are fans of half-hearted games,” he said.
Aggro Crab and login routes are taking this route. “We’re not really the type to sue,” Carmen said. Instead, they speak out in disgust. In early August, the company released on X’s prefer users “pirated our game [Roblox] About an imitator. It is available for you on the PlayStation store. peak Published on PC only. Wired has been exposed to PlayStation, Roblox and Steam and will be updated accordingly.
“I consume media because it’s made by humans,” Carmen said. “I want to experience a work of art, whatever it is, another person creates and gets their perspective and perspective on the world. If AI is used to make games, you’ll remove that from the equation. It has no value.”
