Big Walk, the game that was likely at or near the top of a lot of people’s game of the year lists, was made in very small part with the use of AI. This was not previously disclosed publicly or on Steam because, according to House House’s statement on the matter, “the platform does not request disclosure of code or chatbot usage.” And we’re only finding out about this now, long after the game has released to universal acclaim, because Big Walk was apparently at the heart of a fractious discussion about AI usage in development and the game’s eligibility for awards among the jury members for the 2027 Independent Games Festival.

Over the past month, IGF judges and jurists have had intense, difficulty, generous, and deeply engaged conversations about AI and the games industry.

Some jurors felt that a hard, no-exceptions line needed to be drawn in the sand, and made a public, signed statement to that effect. Others felt that considering how House House used the tech was worth consideration in determining Big Walk‘s eligibility. House House claims that “well under 0.1% of Big Walk’s code had anything to do with this usage and generative AI was not used in any other context when making the game,” and it seems like some jurors felt that such limited use shouldn’t disqualify a game that was very likely in the running for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, the IGF’s top award.

The discussions about this event at Kotaku mirror those playing out amongst gamers and developers on social media.

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