🎮House House's Big Walk Ships With AI Bug Fix, Draws 400+ Steam Reviews

Your AI-assisted code might cost you an award

Nineteen jurors on the 50-plus-member Independent Games Festival panel just said they won't vote for any game using generative AI. Then House House, the studio behind Big Walk, said its game used LLMs for a bug fix. The fallout is messy, and it's a preview of how every studio will get judged. If you ship games or any software with AI-assisted tooling, this is your problem too. Valve doesn't ask for code or chatbot usage disclosure, and its form targets AI-generated content, not efficiency tools built into modern engines. The IGF has no AI distinction at all, which is why House House disclosed the fix when entering. The catch? That honesty is now the story. The numbers: AI touched well under 0.1% of Big Walk's code. The game holds a Very Positive Steam rating despite 400+ review bombs, since Steam's anti-bomb tools are dampening the damage. The IGF previously rescinded awards for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 over AI-made textures, so precedent exists. Judge Liz Ryerson said the AI use wasn't disqualifying for her, and Dominic Tarason called punishing a bug fix absurd. Hot take: a line has to be drawn somewhere, and a bug fix is not where it belongs.