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Steam has a published, AI-specific disclosure step; Epic Games Store does not describe an equivalent questionnaire in the public requirements reviewed for this comparison. On Steam, developers complete a generative-AI section in the Content Survey before review. It separates player-consumed content made ahead of time from content generated during play, and live generation requires a description of safeguards against illegal output. AI tools used only to improve a developer’s workflow are outside the stated focus of that section.

Epic’s public guidance still requires accurate product information, acceptable content, and sufficient intellectual-property rights, but it does not establish that Epic never asks an AI question in its authenticated Developer Portal. Treat the two submissions differently: classify and disclose covered output for Steam, then check the current Epic portal rather than assuming either a mandatory declaration or a blanket exemption.

At a glance

Name Best for Key spec Platforms Checked
Steam Developers who need a defined AI-disclosure workflow Generative-AI section in the pre-review Content Survey; distinguishes Pre-Generated and Live-Generated content PC storefront Oct 2026
Epic Games Store Developers following general product, content, and rights requirements No comparable AI-specific questionnaire described in the reviewed public requirements; authenticated portal fields are not established PC storefront Oct 2026

What is the policy difference between Steam and Epic Games Store?

Steam publishes a concrete question set for generative AI, while Epic’s publicly available distribution rules examined here stay at the level of general content, accuracy, and rights obligations. That difference affects how you prepare evidence and how confidently you can describe your submission process.

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Decision axis Steam Epic Games Store
AI-specific developer questionnaire A generative-AI section is part of the required Content Survey completed before review. Answers are checked against the submitted build and store page. The reviewed public requirements do not describe a comparable questionnaire. The exact fields behind the authenticated Developer Portal are not established here.
Development-time generated assets Disclose applicable player-consumed material made before release, including art, sound, narrative, or localization. Follow the general requirements for rights, acceptable content, and accurate presentation. Do not assume Epic has adopted Steam’s category names.
Runtime generation Identify Live-Generated content and describe guardrails against illegal output. Apply the published general content and rights rules. No matching AI-specific guardrail questionnaire is established in the reviewed public material.
AI-assisted workflow Efficiency gains alone are not the focus of the AI section. The public requirements reviewed do not establish a separate AI declaration for tools used only to improve workflow.
Rights and marketing accuracy Disclosure does not authorize infringing, prohibited, or misleading material. Product information must be accurate, and content cannot infringe other parties’ rights.

How does Steam’s AI disclosure work?

Steam’s process is a pre-release declaration tied to the Content Survey, not a general statement that a studio uses AI. The useful question is what an AI system produced for players and where that output appears in the shipped game or its associated presentation.

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What does Steam mean by Pre-Generated content?

Steam uses Pre-Generated for AI-created material produced during development that ships with the game and is consumed by players. The documentation names art, sound, narrative, and localization as examples. A generated texture packed into the game, an AI-produced voice line included in a scene, or machine-generated text used in the released localization can therefore fall within the survey’s subject.

The timing matters: the asset can be generated before launch and still be covered because the player encounters the resulting material. Keep an inventory of which files, lines, images, or translations were generated, which tool produced them, and where they appear. That record helps you answer the survey consistently with the build and store page.

What does Steam mean by Live-Generated content?

Live-Generated content is produced while the game runs rather than being fixed in the shipped files. Examples include dialogue generated in response to a player’s prompt, an AI system creating a quest description on demand, or a service returning a new image during a session.

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Steam adds a specific obligation for this category: describe the guardrails intended to prevent illegal output. The disclosure should explain the controls you actually operate, such as input restrictions, output filtering, moderation review, blocked categories, escalation paths, or a safe fallback when the service returns unacceptable material. Those examples are preparation guidance; Steam’s requirement is to provide a guardrails description, not to certify a particular technical design.

Do AI coding assistants count on Steam?

Not automatically. Steam states that “Efficiency gains through the use of these tools is not the focus of this section.” If a coding assistant helps refactor code, generate tests, or speed up an internal workflow and produces no player-facing AI content, that use is materially different from shipping AI-generated dialogue, art, sound, or localization.

Classify the result, not the brand of tool. If the assistant generates a player-visible asset or text that remains in the release, document that output as you would any other Pre-Generated material. If it only improves the development process and the player never receives generated content, the published wording indicates that the workflow use itself is outside the section’s focus.

What does Steam check against the survey?

Steam says survey answers are checked against the submitted game and store page. A disclosure that describes only a prototype feature, omits a shipped generated asset, or conflicts with the store copy can create a mismatch during review. Make the build, screenshots, trailers, descriptions, and survey tell the same story about what players will receive.

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Can you change Steam’s answers after approval?

Steam says that, after the build and store page have been approved, changing certain Content Survey answers requires contacting Steam Support. Plan the classification before submission and retain the underlying inventory and guardrails description so a later feature change can be explained accurately instead of silently diverging from the approved record.

Does Epic Games Store require an AI disclosure?

The reviewed public Epic Games Store requirements do not describe a Steam-style generative-AI survey. That is a statement about the published guidance available for this comparison, not proof that an AI field can never appear in a private or newly updated Developer Portal.

Epic’s public rules still matter in every AI scenario. They cover product-review obligations, content restrictions, accuracy of the listing, and rights to the material you publish or use. Epic’s Content Guidelines state: “The content you create, publish, or use cannot infringe or violate someone else’s rights, including their intellectual property rights.” An AI disclosure, if a portal asks for one, would not replace those obligations.

Before submitting, open the current authenticated portal for the product and read the fields shown for that title and build. Record any AI-related question, attachment request, or certification in your release checklist. If no such field appears, do not claim that Epic has adopted Steam’s Pre-Generated or Live-Generated definitions; simply comply with the general rules and keep evidence of your rights and content review.

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What should you do in common AI-development scenarios?

The same tool can lead to different submission work depending on what reaches players. Use the four cases below to separate Steam’s published wording, Epic’s public guidance, and the point that still needs a portal check.

Scenario 1: An AI-generated texture ships in the game

Steam establishes: A texture created during development and consumed by players is the kind of player-facing, development-time output covered by the Pre-Generated category. Include it in the Content Survey description and make sure screenshots or store copy do not imply that every visual was hand-created if that distinction matters to the product description.

Epic’s public guidance establishes: You need the rights to use the texture and must represent the product accurately. The public documents do not establish a separate AI-origin field or require Steam’s terminology.

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Verify in the current portal: Check whether Epic asks for provenance, licensing evidence, or another declaration for the specific product. Keep the generation record and any commercial-use terms available even if no field appears.

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Scenario 2: An AI coding assistant is used only to speed up development

Steam establishes: Workflow efficiency alone is not the focus of the generative-AI section. If the assistant’s output is ordinary code and no generated player-facing content is delivered at runtime, the use is different from the covered content categories.

Epic’s public guidance establishes: The reviewed requirements do not set out an AI-specific declaration for internal productivity tools. Normal obligations still apply to the resulting software, including accuracy and rights.

Verify in the current portal: Confirm that the assistant did not leave generated text, art, audio, or localization in the release. If it did, classify that player-facing output rather than relying on the fact that the original tool was marketed as a coding assistant.

Scenario 3: Dialogue is generated during gameplay

Steam establishes: Runtime dialogue is Live-Generated content. The Content Survey must identify it and include a description of safeguards against illegal output. The disclosure does not exempt the dialogue from Steam’s ordinary content and intellectual-property rules.

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Epic’s public guidance establishes: The product must satisfy the general content and rights requirements. The reviewed public material does not establish a parallel AI guardrail questionnaire or promise that a runtime system will be accepted.

Verify in the current portal: Check for any current submission field concerning generated or user-directed content. Document the service dependency, moderation controls, blocked requests, fallback behavior, and who is responsible for responding to harmful output so that any portal question can be answered precisely.

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Scenario 4: AI-produced material appears in the store listing

Steam establishes: The survey is checked against the store page as well as the build. AI-produced screenshots, promotional art, copy, or other associated material should therefore be reviewed for consistency with the answers and for ordinary content and rights compliance.

Epic’s public guidance establishes: Listing information must be accurate, and the material used to market the product cannot violate another party’s rights. Epic’s paid promotional-content declaration concerns advertising or brand promotion; it is not evidence of a generative-AI provenance questionnaire.

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Verify in the current portal: Look for the latest requirements for promotional assets and declarations. Do not describe a generated feature in marketing if it is absent, materially different, or unavailable in the version submitted for review.

How should a developer prepare a compliant submission?

Preparation is easiest when the studio treats AI output as a release-inventory problem rather than trying to answer from memory. The following sequence works for a Steam submission and provides useful records for an Epic submission even when no AI-specific field is visible.

  1. Inventory player-facing output. List every generated image, model, sound, voice line, narrative passage, translation, code-driven text, or runtime response that players can receive. Mark whether it is fixed in the build or produced during play.
  2. Separate workflow assistance from shipped content. Record tools used for coding, debugging, asset cleanup, or internal drafting, then identify any output that crossed into the product or store page. Steam’s wording focuses on what players consume, not on every productivity gain.
  3. Map the Steam categories. Label fixed output as Pre-Generated and runtime output as Live-Generated for the Content Survey. Note the feature, its location, and the player-visible result rather than merely naming a vendor or model.
  4. Write the live-output safeguards. For each runtime system, document input controls, output screening, refusal behavior, moderation ownership, logging, and a fallback path. Describe the controls that exist; do not promise safeguards that are only planned.
  5. Audit rights and accuracy. Confirm that training, generated, licensed, or commissioned material can be used in the game and its promotion. Check that screenshots, trailers, descriptions, and feature lists match the submitted build.
  6. Complete Steam’s Content Survey before review. Answer the generative-AI questions using the inventory and guardrails record, then compare the answers with the store page and build before submission.
  7. Open Epic’s live Developer Portal. Read the fields for the particular product and release. If an AI question exists, answer it with the same factual inventory adapted to Epic’s wording; if it does not, retain the records for rights, content, and accuracy checks.
  8. Control post-approval changes. When a feature changes after Steam approval, determine whether the affected survey answer is one Steam requires you to change through Support. Update the build and listing together instead of leaving an outdated description.
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What does disclosure not permit?

Disclosure is not a waiver. Steam’s AI section does not authorize illegal output, infringing material, misleading store claims, or content that violates other platform rules. Epic’s rights language makes the same principle explicit: publishing AI-assisted material does not transfer ownership or excuse unauthorized use.

Steam’s FAQ also says it does not want to ship Live-Generated Adult Only Sexual Content during gameplay at this time. Do not present the ordinary live-AI guardrails process as blanket acceptance for every content category. A feature can be accurately disclosed and still be unacceptable under a separate content restriction.

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Payment arrangements are separate from disclosure. Steam identifies supported approaches for paying the costs of an external live-AI service, but choosing a payment method does not answer the Content Survey or make a runtime feature compliant.

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Can one AI statement be reused for both stores?

You can maintain one internal fact sheet, but the submission language should be store-specific. Steam has defined categories and a guardrails prompt; Epic’s reviewed public requirements do not establish those same labels, so copying Steam’s answer as if it were an Epic form field can create confusion.

Use the shared record for the underlying facts: what was generated, when it is generated, where players see it, what rights you hold, and what controls operate at runtime. Then map those facts to Steam’s Content Survey and to whatever fields the current Epic portal actually presents.

What does independent review research say about AI labels and player reaction?

A 2026 exploratory study by Fabian Wiesinger, Johanna Pirker, and Denis Helic assembled 50,153 Steam reviews across 602 games. The authors associated AI labels with more AI-related criticism in negative reviews, but the dataset is their collected research sample, not a census of Steam, and the analysis does not show that disclosure caused criticism or reduced sales.

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That finding is context for communication choices, not a storefront rule. It cannot replace the platform requirements, predict a particular game’s reception, or justify omitting an answer that Steam requests.

Which platform should you plan for first?

If Steam is part of the launch, plan around its Content Survey because the required categories and live-output guardrails are explicit. If Epic is also part of the launch, use the same factual inventory but reserve a final check for the authenticated portal, whose exact current submission fields are not established by the public documents reviewed here.

  • Choose a Steam-first checklist when your game contains generated art, sound, narrative, localization, or runtime responses that players will consume.
  • Prioritize rights and listing accuracy on both stores when AI was used only behind the scenes or in promotional production.
  • Escalate uncertainty rather than guessing when a post-approval Steam change affects a survey answer or when Epic’s portal presents an unfamiliar declaration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does using an AI coding assistant mean Steam will reject my game?

No. Steam’s published wording distinguishes workflow efficiency from AI-generated material that players consume. Rejection is not automatic, but any generated player-facing output still needs to be classified and must satisfy the platform’s ordinary content and rights rules.

What happens if my runtime AI feature changes after Steam approves the store page?

Treat the change as a release-management issue, not just a code update. Steam says certain Content Survey answer changes after build and store-page approval require contacting Steam Support, so keep the original inventory and explain exactly what the new feature changes.

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Does Steam’s AI survey cover promotional images made with generative tools?

The survey is checked against the store page as well as the build, so associated promotional material should be included in your consistency and rights review. The important question is what appears in the submitted presentation and whether it is accurately represented, not merely which tool created it.

Are AI-related complaints in Steam reviews proof that disclosure hurts sales?

No. The 2026 study of 50,153 reviews from 602 games reported an association with AI-related criticism in negative reviews, but it did not establish causation or a sales effect. Its sample is not a complete count of Steam reviews or games.

Can a game include live-generated adult sexual content on Steam?

Steam’s FAQ says it does not want to ship Live-Generated Adult Only Sexual Content during gameplay at this time. That limitation is separate from the general requirement to describe safeguards for other live-generated systems.

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