Saber Interactive Adds AI Disclaimer to Steam Store Page Following Public Dispute

Saber Interactive has updated its Steam store page to include an artificial intelligence disclaimer following a public disagreement between publisher CEO Matt Karch and former writer Stella Sacco. The store page notice was not present when the game was originally listed on July 30, but has since been added following the back-and-forth between the two parties.

The public dispute began when Sacco claimed she was replaced in favor of AI, specifically stating she was replaced "with ChatGPT" in 2023. Karch responded via a statement to This Week in Videogames, questioning her involvement and asserting that it was always the company's intention to reveal the feature set once finalized, claiming Sacco violated a confidentiality clause by speaking out early. Sacco subsequently criticized the response, calling it remarkable for a company CEO.

Addressing the implementation of the technology, Karch explained that an experimental mode was added to explore these concepts, noting that utilizing AI tools actually required adding multiple writers and coders, resulting in a higher net cost than traditional methods. The newly added Steam disclaimers make reference to AI-generated dialogue as well as a mix of human-made and AI-generated music on clearly labeled radio stations. Despite the controversy and his PR team's reservations, Karch maintained that artificial intelligence can and should help shape gamer experiences.