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Using AI for indie game marketing (and Valve's AI rules)

, founder of NextWishlist · Updated · 3 min read

2AI categories in Valve's survey: pre-generated and liveValve rule
MCPthe open standard to connect an AI to your datamodelcontextprotocol.io
1human edit before anything is publishedPractitioners
On this page
  1. What AI does well
  2. What it does badly
  3. Valve's rules on AI in your game
  4. Give your assistant real data: MCP
  5. A simple routine

Short answerAI assistants are good at drafting posts, pitches and descriptions, summarizing reviews and brainstorming hooks; they don't know your numbers unless you connect them. Valve's content survey asks you to disclose AI-generated content in your game, pre-generated or live. MCP lets an assistant read your own game's data.

AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude can save a solo developer hours of writing every week. They can also produce generic posts that nobody shares. Here is what they do well for game marketing, what Valve asks about AI, and how to give them your real data.

01What AI does well

  • First drafts: social posts, creator and press pitches, Steam events, newsletter emails, your short description.
  • Variations: ten hooks for the same clip, so you can test them.
  • Summaries: dozens of reviews, Discord threads or playtest notes, grouped by theme.
  • Translation drafts of your page and posts, to be checked by a native speaker.
  • Research help: lists of festivals, subreddits or creators to verify yourself.

02What it does badly

  • Your numbers: an assistant doesn't know your wishlists, your best posts or your niche unless you give it the data.
  • Valve's rules and dates: they change; check the Steamworks page, or a dated source (Next Fest dates).
  • Your voice: unedited AI text reads the same as everyone else's. Players and creators notice.
  • Facts it can't verify: benchmarks quoted without a source may be invented.

03Valve's rules on AI in your game

Valve's content survey asks developers to describe their use of generative AI in two categories:

  • Pre-generated: content made with AI tools during development that ships with the game. Valve reviews it like any other content.
  • Live-generated: content created by AI while the game runs. You must also describe the guardrails that keep it within the rules.

Your game must not include illegal or infringing content and must match its marketing, AI or not. Using an assistant to draft your marketing text isn't game content, but the claims in it must stay true.

04Give your assistant real data: MCP

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI apps such as Claude connect to outside data and tools. With an MCP connection, an assistant can read your game's numbers instead of guessing, and draft from them: "which of my posts brought wishlists this month, and write three more like it".

  1. 1NextWishlist measuresOvernight: wishlists, page, posts, niche
  2. 2Your AI readsThrough MCP, your game only
  3. 3Your AI draftsPosts, pitches, events, tracked links
  4. 4You approve and postYour voice, your accounts
The loop: NextWishlist computes, your own AI phrases, you decide. NextWishlist never posts.

NextWishlist works this way: you can plug your own assistant (Claude, or any app that supports MCP) into your game's analysis, on your own subscription. The numbers are computed by NextWishlist; your assistant only phrases them, and it only sees your game.

05A simple routine

  1. Look at what worked: which posts and links brought wishlists (how to track your wishlists).
  2. Ask the assistant for variations of what worked, not new ideas from nothing.
  3. Edit every draft in your own voice.
  4. Post with a tracked link, measure, repeat.

Using AI for indie game marketing (and Valve's AI rules): quick answers

Can I use ChatGPT or Claude to market my indie game?

Yes, for drafts, variations, summaries and translation drafts. Edit everything in your own voice and check facts, rules and dates against their sources.

Do I have to disclose AI on Steam?

Valve's content survey asks you to describe generative AI content in your game: pre-generated content made during development, and live-generated content with its guardrails.

What is MCP for game developers?

The Model Context Protocol, an open standard that lets AI apps connect to outside data. It lets an assistant read your game's data, such as wishlists, instead of guessing.

Can AI write my Steam store description?

It can draft it. Keep the genre and your unique hook in the first sentence, check Valve's rules on descriptions, and rewrite it in your own words.

Sources

Valve's rules can change: the official Steamworks page always wins. Practitioner benchmarks are surveys of developers, given as ranges.

NextWishlist

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