Heartopia developers disclose AI-generated content on Steam

Kotaku reports that Heartopia, a new Animal Crossing–like cozy life sim from XD International, now acknowledges the use of AI-generated content after launching on Steam; the game dropped on January 17 following closed betas in November and December 2025 and is one of the biggest new releases on Steam this month.

Heartopia peaked at over 35,000 concurrent players but holds a 66 percent positive rating on Steam, and many negative reviews criticize the developer for not disclosing AI-generated artwork. A Discord user, parupa206, wrote, "This game contains Generative AI (used to generate the puzzles), which they didn’t disclose until the accusations of it surfaced." The use of AI was reportedly not public until GAMINGbible’s Richard Breslin emailed Heartopia’s UK PR team earlier this week.

The developer posted a Discord statement saying, "Monetization Content in Heartopia does not include AI-generated materials," and adding that future AI-assisted content would be announced in advance while marketing materials produced outside the game are not covered by the disclosure.

Key Topics

Tech, Heartopia, Xd International, Steam, Generative Ai, Richard Breslin