Big Walk AI critics "need to get over themselves," says ex-Gears of War lead
Controversy is swirling around Big Walk right now due to the discovery that AI was used in parts of the game's development. One of the central creatives behind Gears of War has come to the friendslop indie hit's defense, claiming there's now some review bombing going on in response to the discovery. On Twitter, Cliff Bleszinski, the lead designer of the original Gears of War trilogy, makes his thoughts extremely clear. "Wow, they're review-bombing Big Walk because it used some AI help to get out the door," he writes. "People really need to get over themselves with this shit." In replies, he falls back on the argument that AI is already commonplace in the industry, to the point its usage should be an accepted reality. "Problem is the mob doesn't see it that way," he says in response to another tweet. "SO many if not all devs are using it and no one can/wants to admit it now because of this crap." Wow, they're review bombing Big Walk because it used some AI help to get out the door.People really need to get over themselves with this shit.November 11, 2026 Big Walk developer House House admitted to using AI tools earlier this week, after a number of jurors at the Independent Games Festival put out a statement saying they wouldn't vote for any production that used the technology under any circumstances. The studio told the IGF small parts of the game made use of LLMs – "well under 0.1%" of the overall code, according to House House – and thus said it publicly, too. An issue here is that Big Walk didn't have any labelling for such on Steam, even though Valve's store requires one if AI was involved. "We have not made any disclosure on Steam as the platform does not request disclosure of code or chatbot usage," reads the statement. "We are posting this disclosure as it has become a matter of public interest." Steam reviews took a hit as a result, but at time of writing, they're back up at Very Positive. Recent reviews are at 87%, with a cavalcade of players who're pushing back against the negativity. "AI sucks, but this got blown way out of proportion," writes one player. "I'm all for hopping on the bandwagon when it comes to stopping generative AI from essentially making an entire game from scratch," writes another, "but the love of god, AI being used as a tool to fix a bug that not even Unity themselves could fix might be one of the most reasonable uses for it I could imagine." Plenty are on Bleszinski's side, then. Personally, I'd err against using it at all, but the bigger issue is the lack of disclosure, and I wonder if House House could've avoided this by saying it from the jump. But here we are. The Witcher 4 production director feels a "great responsibility" after winning the Golden Joystick for Most Wanted Game. [/url]
Controversy is swirling around Big Walk right now due to the discovery that AI was used in parts of the game's development. One of the central creatives behind Gears of War has come to the friendslop indie hit's defense, claiming there's now some review bombing going on in response to the discovery.On Twitter, Cliff Bleszinski, the lead designer of the original Gears of War trilogy, makes his thoughts extremely clear. "Wow, they're review-bombing Big Walk because it used some AI help to get out the door," he writes. "People really need to get over themselves with this shit."
In replies, he falls back on the argument that AI is already commonplace in the industry, to the point its usage should be an accepted reality. "Problem is the mob doesn't see it that way," he says in response to another tweet. "SO many if not all devs are using it and no one can/wants to admit it now because of this crap."
Wow, they're review bombing Big Walk because it used some AI help to get out the door.People really need to get over themselves with this shit.November 11, 2026
Big Walk developer House House admitted to using AI tools earlier this week, after a number of jurors at the Independent Games Festival put out a statement saying they wouldn't vote for any production that used the technology under any circumstances. The studio told the IGF small parts of the game made use of LLMs – "well under 0.1%" of the overall code, according to House House – and thus said it publicly, too.
An issue here is that Big Walk didn't have any labelling for such on Steam, even though Valve's store requires one if AI was involved. "We have not made any disclosure on Steam as the platform does not request disclosure of code or chatbot usage," reads the statement. "We are posting this disclosure as it has become a matter of public interest."
Steam reviews took a hit as a result, but at time of writing, they're back up at Very Positive. Recent reviews are at 87%, with a cavalcade of players who're pushing back against the negativity. "AI sucks, but this got blown way out of proportion," writes one player.
"I'm all for hopping on the bandwagon when it comes to stopping generative AI from essentially making an entire game from scratch," writes another, "but the love of god, AI being used as a tool to fix a bug that not even Unity themselves could fix might be one of the most reasonable uses for it I could imagine."
Plenty are on Bleszinski's side, then. Personally, I'd err against using it at all, but the bigger issue is the lack of disclosure, and I wonder if House House could've avoided this by saying it from the jump. But here we are.
The Witcher 4 production director feels a "great responsibility" after winning the Golden Joystick for Most Wanted Game.
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