Indie Developers Delay Releases Over AI Clone Fears

An indie game developer has delayed its new game's public testing schedule due to concerns that generative AI could be used to create a clone before the official release. The Spanish studio Digital Sun postponed the Steam playtest for its upcoming title "ReVamp." The game, a vampire-themed blend of tower defense and Metroidvania genres, was originally slated for a large-scale public test in late October. The developers cited risks of reverse engineering, a technique that extracts core systems and graphics from unfinished builds, which has been increasingly combined with AI tools to produce imitation games quickly. Digital Sun will instead conduct limited testing through its Discord community starting October 29, with a broader public test postponed to January 2027. This follows a similar case where developer Alliance Arts canceled its demo for "Drunken Goddess Reflux" over the same "preemptive cloning" concerns.