October 21, 2026

Steam Next Fest is facing growing criticism as 2,593 of its 7,145 listed games (36.3%) disclose generative AI use, up from roughly 20% in June. Players are complaining that AI-generated artwork and low-effort games are making it harder to discover promising indies, with some calling the event “absolutely ruined.” The figures, sourced from SteamDB, highlight a growing discoverability challenge for independent developers as Steam Next Fest becomes increasingly crowded.

Hasbro's Magic: The Gathering generated over $600 million in Q3 revenue for the first time, up 34% year over year, helping its Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming division grow 31%. Monopoly Go! contributed another $41 million, while Hasbro's overall quarterly revenue reached $1.6 billion, beating analyst expectations. The company has raised its 2026 revenue growth forecast to 7–9%, highlighting the continued strength of its gaming franchises.

Moonlighter developer Digital Sun has postponed the public playtest for its upcoming tower-defense Metroidvania ReVamp, fearing that AI-powered copycats could recreate and release the game before its official launch. Instead, the studio will hold a smaller, Discord-only playtest starting October 29. The decision follows similar concerns from Drunken Goddess Reflux developer Who's You, highlighting a growing dilemma for indie studios: how to build an audience through early demos without exposing their ideas to AI-driven cloning.

Indie developers are increasingly withholding demos and prototypes over fears that AI tools can quickly replicate their games before release. Alliance Arts canceled its public Steam Next Fest demo for Drunken Goddess Reflux, opting for closed playtests instead. Meanwhile, Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope has expressed similar concerns, and developer Freya Holmér saw multiple AI-generated clones appear within days of sharing her puzzle prototype. The trend presents a growing dilemma for indies: share early to build wishlists or risk being copied before launch.

Cubebrush has released a beta of Moko, a new digital painting and image-editing app designed as an alternative to Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint. Built with game artists and illustrators in mind, it features live brush-stroke previews, GPU-accelerated pigment mixing, realistic oil and acrylic brushes, and support for importing existing Photoshop and Clip Studio brushes. After a year of development, Moko is targeting a late November or early December release on Windows and macOS, with beta access available now.

A Crazy Taxi speedrunner competing at RTA in Japan Winter 2026 is recruiting musicians to perform the game's iconic soundtrack live after organizers warned that its licensed music couldn't be played during the event. The original Dreamcast game features songs by The Offspring and Bad Religion, prompting runner Yutapon to seek guitarists, bassists and drummers for a possible live performance. A similar workaround was successfully used at Awesome Games Done Quick 2025, though this year's performance has yet to be approved.

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