The Steam Store page for Hotel Barcelona was updated today to disclose the game’s use of AI generated content. The game launched last week without the disclosure, which is a direct violation of Steam’s Terms of Service regarding the use of generative AI in games. According to the added text, the game used an AI text-to-speech service to generate voice overs, as well as generative fill AI to create a logo featured on its in-game collectibles. The developers plan to remove the AI assets and replace them with non-AI generated content in a future update.
The games industry is in a bit of a sticky place when it comes to the use of generative AI. While the discourse on online forums is generally against it, industry trends point to the technology gradually becoming an unavoidable part of the games development process. As the industry and market work out where they stand on the topic, Valve has taken the cautious stance by permitting games with AI-generated content to appear on its platform so long as the use of the technology is disclosed on their app pages.
At this point, it’s impossible to tell whether the game’s developer White Owls Inc. or its publisher CULT Games intentionally did not disclose the use of generative AI, but this does put into question the effectiveness of the system. The whole point of it is to inform users about AI use so they can decide for themselves if they want to support those games—the system doesn’t work if games can avoid disclosure with little to no repercussion, and we may see more and more companies abstain from adding that information to their app pages, as a result.
Perhaps the bigger disappointment among fans is that the names attached to Hotel Barcelona are Suda51 and Swery65, two of Japan’s most unique voices in video games, though it remains to be seen whether the two signed off on the use of AI for generating assets.
