# 19 IGF jurors say they will not vote for games using generative AI; Big Walk admits limited use

- Published: 2026-11-10T17:32:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-12T10:02:57.970Z
- Section: Market
- Topics: Creation, Society
- Page: https://aidailyjournal.com/en/n/2026/11/10/igf-jurors-say-they-won-t-vote-for-games-using-generative-ai-big-walk-discloses/
- Sources: [The Verge](https://theverge.com/games/1030994/big-walk-independent-games-festival-igf-ai), [Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/11/big-walk-used-ai-to-fix-a-bug-now-the-indie-gaming-world-is-having-a-reckoning)

## Summary

Nineteen of the more than 50 Independent Games Festival (IGF) jurors published a statement saying they would not vote for games using generative AI in any capacity. The group cited ecological, economic, psychological, and labor harms and urged the IGF to adopt a policy banning games containing any AI-generated work in future years. The statement does not represent the IGF or all jurors; signatories include Sam Barlow and Lena Raine.

House House told Aftermath that it used LLMs “sparingly” near the end of Big Walk’s development to investigate third-party code problems and fix a Unity-related shadow bug. The studio said snippets from responses were adapted into well under 0.1% of the game’s code; it disclosed the use to the IGF but not on the game’s Steam page, which does not request that disclosure. Barlow said Big Walk did not prompt the discussion, but became a difficult edge case, and that the debate was not a call for a boycott.

## Why it matters (editorial interpretation)

The case puts authorship, transparency, and awards eligibility into tension: even use described as minimal, with no disclosure requirement on Steam, can prompt differing interpretations among jurors and studios. The signatories’ proposal could also influence future IGF policies, although it does not represent the festival or all jurors.

_Summary written by AI Daily Journal in its own words, based on the sources above. For details, read the original articles._