Video game copycats have always existed, but generative AI and so-called vibe-coding have made it far easier for people with only light coding experience to produce a working copy of a popular title, or even of a game that has not yet been released. For independent developers, that means their original ideas can be taken before they have a chance to earn money or build an audience.
The problem became especially visible during Steam Next Fest, the platform's discoverability event built around free demos of upcoming games. This year's event was filled with what developers describe as AI slop, and some studios began reconsidering whether to release public demos at all. GameSpot spoke with three developers, by email and direct message, whose views on the issue differ. They agree on one point: there is no clear way for studios to fight copycats on their own, and meaningful change will have to come from the platform holders themselves.
Rami Ismail has lived this problem before the AI era. When his studio Vlambeer was preparing to release the mobile game Ridiculous Fishing in 2011, a clone called Ninja Fishing reached the market first and earned significant money in the process. "It was devastating," Ismail said. "We had a firm belief that creativity was worthwhile, and the clone very quickly reminded us that ultimately, people with money will cynically steal anything they can. It was terrifying: We were firm believers in making the best possible games we could, and we were now reconsidering everything."
Ismail said developers he speaks with now are uncertain about marketing. Some build a community slowly, while others chase a strong hook and hope for a viral moment. In either case, he argued, momentum makes a project an easy target. "As soon as you gain momentum, you're easy prey for any asshole with a Claude account and $3,000 of tree-burning money," he said. Ismail added that the conversation about AI has been building for several years, moving from a technical experiment into artistic fields such as writing, art and music before reaching games.
Mike Futter, director of operations and publishing at Causeway Studios and a producer with Strange Scaffold, said derivative works have been a problem in the industry long before AI, so the quick adoption of the technology by cloners did not surprise him. He said he had not heard of specific cases of AI-enabled cloning until the recent wave of AI decompiling reached the mainstream, targeting major subscription software providers. Legal protection for games can cover art assets, sound and narrative, but game mechanics are much harder to copyright, especially when they are broad ideas. "So, because you can't protect game mechanics, we need platform support to protect developers," Futter said.
Futter also criticized platforms that appear to ignore AI slop he considers worse than the low-quality shovelware of earlier years. "If platforms won't help create a firewall for developers, they should do it for the consumers clamoring for tools to weed out the slop," he said.
The concern is also shaping decisions at individual studios. Digital Sun, the developer behind the upcoming game ReVamp, pulled back its plans for a public demo, citing the danger of AI clones. Speaking through a spokesperson, the studio pointed to Needle in a Haystack Simulator, which went viral on social media before it had a Steam page and has since inspired several identical clones. The studio said the bigger shock came from Drunken Goddess Reflux, a game with more than 500,000 wishlists that was reportedly afraid to release a demo. "A clone wouldn't have its wishlists, and probably not its incredible animation, either," the studio said. "But we don't know how fast the technology will keep advancing, or whether measures will be taken to protect original games. That uncertainty is what's pushing us to be cautious and change the way we connect with players, moving public builds closer to launch."
Needle in a Haystack Simulator, a tongue-in-cheek game built on an old idiom that asks players to find a single needle among 5 million pieces of hay, illustrates how simple viral concepts are easy to imitate. Drunken Goddess Reflux developer Alliance Arts issued its own statement pulling plans for a demo on October 16, days before Digital Sun followed suit.
The developers hold different views on their own use of AI. Ismail said developers tend to be curious about new technology, so he has experimented with large language models in a closed environment. Digital Sun said it uses AI as an assistive tool but creates all of its own assets and follows firm internal guidelines on the technology. For now, the developers agree that the industry has no clear remedy, and that the burden of protecting original work increasingly falls on the platforms that distribute it.