Itch.io Deletes AI Spam and Adds Filter for AI-Made Games

Indie game platform Itch.io has taken direct action against the flood of AI-generated content on its storefront, mass-deleting what it called “AI slop” and rolling out a new search filter that removes any game with a generative AI disclosure from results.

Terabytes Deleted, New Filter Launched

According to Video Games Chronicle, Itch.io posted on its Bluesky account that it had “just deleted a couple terabytes of AI slop.” The platform clarified that the removals were aimed specifically at bulk spam uploads, noting that the ability to upload large volumes of poorly optimized AI-generated models does not make doing so acceptable. Shortly after the announcement, Itch.io followed up by introducing a “no AI” toggle in its search results, expanding generative AI disclosure filtering to areas of the site where it had previously been absent.

Itch.io already required creators to disclose when generative AI was used in a game’s development. The new filter builds on that existing policy by giving users the power to act on those disclosures directly when browsing. PC Gamer reported that the feature was added to the search results page, one of the spots on the platform where the filtering capability had been “critically lacking,” per Itch.io’s own words.

How Itch.io Compares to Other Storefronts

Steam also requires developers to disclose AI-generated content, but it has not given users any way to filter those games out of search results. That gap caused friction during the most recent Steam Next Fest, when developers reported that their games were buried under a large number of AI-assisted titles, as noted by Video Games Chronicle. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Epic Games Store has shown little concern over generative AI, with Epic Games itself releasing a launcher it acknowledged was built using so-called “vibe coding” powered by AI.

Community Reaction and the Question of an Outright Ban

The response from the Itch.io community has been largely positive, though some users want the platform to go further by banning AI-generated content outright rather than simply filtering it. As PC Gamer points out, enforcing an outright ban carries real complications. Drawing a clear line between a game that is entirely AI-generated and one that used AI tools in limited ways during development is not straightforward. The issue gained wider attention after it emerged that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which won a Game of the Year award, had shipped with some AI-generated art assets used as placeholders. The developer patched them out, but the game still had its Indie Game Awards prize taken away as a result. For now, Itch.io appears focused on removing bulk spam and empowering users to curate their own experience, rather than pursuing a sweeping prohibition on all AI content.

Sources: Video Games Chronicle, PC Gamer