Indie Games Festival AI Backlash: Why 19 IGF Jurors Will Not Vote for Games Made With Generative AI

The statement was posted on Bluesky on November 9, 2026 and shared by each signer, including Austin Walker. The jurors say the IGF “has affirmed that we may cast our votes according to our own tastes and values”, and that IGF leadership approved releasing it, but that they “do not speak for IGF as an organization, or for all IGF jury members.”

“For these reasons, this year we are declining to vote for any game that uses generative AI in any capacity.”

“We urge the IGF to adopt a strong anti-AI policy for future years that disallows games containing any AI-generated work.”

Signers include Austin Walker, Sam Barlow, Lena Raine, Brendon Chung, Megan Fox, Osama Dorias and Noel Berry, among 19 names. The statement notes many jurors had “differing perspectives and significant reservations”, and that some did not sign for fear of professional blowback.

The jurors argue that generative AI harms do not depend on what is generated, which is why code gets no exemption. Their list covers:

• Ecological harm from the energy and water used by AI data centers (see how much water AI data centers use).
• Economic harm to developers and artists.
• Cognitive and psychological harm to users, the same concern behind lawsuits like the Danish man suing OpenAI over ChatGPT advice.
• Harm to the information landscape, such as the fake Jensen Huang jacket image that fooled millions.
• Harm to labour and worker power, and training on past work without creators’ consent.

“Programming is a creative discipline whose labour deserves the same respect we extend to any part of making a game.”

The statement named no game. But a judge said on Bluesky that IGF judges knew about Big Walk’s LLM use because disclosure was required in IGF submissions, and the game quickly became the focus.

House House, the Australian studio behind Untitled Goose Game, then confirmed in its FAQ that LLMs were used “sparingly” to research bugs in third-party code, touching well under 0.1% of the code. It apologised that its usage “may not meet their standards”. Read the full breakdown in our Big Walk AI usage explainer.

Signer Sam Barlow said Big Walk “was not the impetus” for the statement. He said a large number of submissions had far more egregious AI use, and called Big Walk a “tricky edge case”.

For the stance: supporters say awards are a statement of values, and that chatbot code still depends on work used to train models without consent. Writer Laura Michet argued it is “right for people to withhold award votes over stuff like this”.

Against a blanket rule: Gizmodo noted that rules like this have edges: Big Walk’s ten-line fix counts the same as a fully vibe-coded game. Others worry the backlash punishes honesty, because studios that never disclose avoid scrutiny entirely, which could push AI use out of sight.

The same fault lines showed up in the Arc Raiders AI voice controversy and Take-Two’s pledge that AI has “zero part” in GTA 6.