Video game cloning is unfortunately nothing new. Developers have often seen successful games inspire lookalikes, imitators and follow-on titles. What changed is how quickly a playable copy can be made. Generative AI and AI agents can help someone move from a viral clip or public demo to a working imitation in days or even hours.
The threat of AI copies became hard to ignore during Steam Next Fest in October 2026. One tracker counted 7,310 demos in the event, while the press preview page had shown more than 8,000 entries, of which around 49% disclosed the use of AI.
Around the same time, Studio Bitdot’s Needle in a Haystack Simulator spawned a wave of similarly named games. Kotaku counted at least 14 Steam listings it considered clones.
Some developers have responded by changing how they reveal a game. The team behind Drunken Goddess Reflux cancelled its planned public demo and arranged closed play sessions after expressing concern that a public build could help others imitate its presentation and gameplay. That may be the right choice for a particular game, but a demo or festival can play a crucial role in helping a small studio find players, press and publishers.
Spending months on building a game, only to see a clone appear within days, can feel deeply unfair. The early exposure that helps a studio find an audience can also hand a would-be copycat a window of opportunity to imitate.
This guide explains what the law can and cannot protect, as well as what developers can do before launch and when a copy appears. A few practical steps can improve your odds, but sadly nothing can make a game completely copy-proof.
What copyright covers (and what it doesn’t)
Copyright protects literary or artistic works that have a certain level of originality.
For video games, this generally means that the following elements are protected by copyright:
- The source code & object code;
- The story & written dialogue;
- Concept art, textures, 3D models, user interfaces (UI) and HUD designs;
- Characters and animations;
- Environments & maps;
- Visual effects;
- Soundtracks & sound effects;
- Voice-over recordings.
What is important to understand is that only your creation is protected and not the underlying ideas, concepts and styles or abstract ideas that have not yet taken a tangible form. Copyright only protects concrete, observable expressions.
Let’s take gaming’s most famous plumber as an example:
- Super Mario is protected by copyright;
- The abstract concept of an Italian plumber character is not protected by copyright, which means that you can still have an Italian plumber as a main character, if it does not look too much like Mario.
How you get copyright protection
Copyright protection generally applies automatically once an original work is created. In most jurisdictions, there is no requirement to register copyright. One notable exception if the United States, where registering copyright is required to file a copyright infringement lawsuit and to claim damages.
In other words, the moment code is written or art is created, copyright protection kicks in. Even work-in-progress can be protected, as long as it is sufficiently original and creative choices have been made.
Who owns the copyright to your video game (assets)
In most jurisdictions, ownership belongs to the person who created the game assets, unless an exception applies.
Common exceptions include:
- Employment relationships
Game assets created in the context of an employment relationship are assigned to the employer. - “Work made for hire” (United States)
In the United States the “work made for hire” doctrine can result in the client owning the copyright in certain commissioned works, depending on how the contract is structured.
Because these exceptions exist, ownership should never be assumed , especially when working with freelancers, contractors, or internal collaborators. Instead, it is important to enter into written contracts to ensure that you own the copyrights to the assets of your video game.
When is an AI clone a copyright infringement?
AI may make it faster and cheaper to produce a clone, but a clone is not automatically an infringement of copyright just because AI was involved in making it.
To successfully claim that a clone infringes the copyright in your video game (assets), you have to prove that:
- The assets of your video game are actually protected by copyright;
- The other video game has copied these protected elements.
In most situations, the copycat did not copy your assets one-to-one but made assets that are highly similar. In that case, you need to determine whether your copyright-protected elements have been reproduced in a recognisable way.
A good rule of thumb, is to assess whether the copied video game (asset) has a similar visual impression compared to your video game (asset).
While assessing this, it remains important to realize that (abstract) ideas, concepts and styles are not protected by copyright. Consequently, it is not sufficient to establish that the clone’s video game (asset) is conceptually similar to yours. They both also need to be similar in execution.
For example, if Nintendo were to claim that a different video game infringes its copyright in the character Pikachu, it would not be enough to say that another game has “an electric mouse character.” That might feel shockingly unoriginal, but an abstract concept alone is not enough for an infringement. A stronger copyright concern would be that the character repeats recognisable details of a particular Pikachu image or design, such as its distinctive shape, face, colours and tail. Whether those details have been copied must be assessed from the actual designs.
Start by placing the two assets side by side. Identify the specific details that match, then ask whether those are creative details from your game or common features that other developers can use too. The closer the match in those specific details, the stronger the concern.
What to do before launch
There are a few things that video game developers can do to prepare for situations in case their video game gets copied by AI. While these tips will help you prepare as much as possible, there is unfortunately no cheat code that fully stops someone from cloning a video game.
Keep proof that you created the video game (assets)
As copyright belongs to the creator, you need to be able to show that you actually created the work yourself, in case ownership is ever challenged.
There are several ways to do this:
- Collect and maintain your work-in-progress files and documents;
- Document your creation process;
- Document the places where you have published your work, because most websites have timestamps, such as ArtStation, DeviantArt and GitHub.
If you did not make the assets yourself but engaged a freelancer to create them for you, you should have a written agreement in which the copyrights are transferred to you, so that you can prove ownership.
Choose and register a distinctive game name as a trademark
A signature move of bad-faith AI copycats is to pick a name that is identical or confusingly similar to yours.
Needle in a Haystack Simulator is a case in point: many of its clones were named Needle in a Haystack as well. Finding the original became, fittingly, like finding a needle in a haystack.
As a result, players struggle to tell which game is the original. They might end up downloading a clone, believing it is your game. This also hurts the discoverability of your video game on platforms such as Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Game names are not automatically protected; for that, you need a trademark registration. With a registered trademark in your possession, you can prevent other video games from using the same or a similar name. While this will not provide extra protection against the cloning of your video game assets, it does prevent your game from getting lost among similarly named copies.
Because of this, trademark protection has become significantly more important since the surge of AI clones. Your game name is your identity that helps you stand out from AI clones trying to pass themselves off as your game.
So check whether your game’s name can be trademarked and register it before your game goes live. Think of it as claiming your username before the servers open.
Claim your game name before the clones do.
Plan what you reveal
A public demo, open playtests, trailers or a festival appearance can be valuable for discovery, feedback and wishlists. You don’t need to cancel your plans because of AI, but you could be more careful in making choices. Decide what the audience needs to see, and consider whether a smaller demo, a staged reveal or a closed playtest would meet the same goal while limiting access to unreleased material. Closed access reduces exposure, but it cannot fully eliminate copying or leaks.
Avoid publishing source code, editable project files or unreleased assets unless there is a clear reason to do so. If a playtest or collaboration involves genuinely confidential material, make sure that everyone who participates signs a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that also prohibits using the build for anything other than playtesting.
Include an anti-AI clause in the EULA of your video game
An End User License Agreement governs the terms and conditions that apply when someone access your public demo or your video game. Adding a clause which prohibits the use of your video game for AI training or datamining can give you an extra legal remedy in case someone has used your video game as a source to generate an AI copy.
It is important to understand that an EULA is only applicable when someone has downloaded your demo or your video game through a platform. This means that an anti-AI clause does not prevent any person to use public assets which they have accessed without having to agree to the EULA, such as images and trailers.
What to do when your video game gets cloned
Preserve evidence
Before a listing changes, preserve its URL, screenshots, store text, images, release date, developer information and gameplay footage. Keep your own earlier versions and source files. If code or assets appear to match, record the comparison carefully and keep an unmodified copy of what you reviewed.
Decide whether (legal) action is worthwhile
A cease-and-desist letter from a lawyer, formal platform dispute or court case may be justified when the copying is clear and commercially significant. Escalation may be disproportionate if the overlap concerns an unprotected idea, the evidence is weak, the copy has little reach, or the likely benefit is smaller than the cost and time involved. Consider the effect on your launch, community and business relationships, as well as the possibility of a counter-notice.
The goal is to preserve your options and focus efforts where the evidence, rights and impact justify it. You do not need to take on every lookalike: choose your battles.
Send a cease-and-desist letter to the video game developer or publisher
If you believe someone has infringed your intellectual property rights, the logical first step is to send a cease-and-desist letter (C&D letter). A C&D letter substantiates why you believe there is an infringement of your rights and describes what you expect from the infringing party.
Typical demands include:
- Stopping the distribution of the infringing game (content);
- Changing and/or removing infringing assets or names;
- Paying damages suffered;
- Discussing a resolution.
You can send a C&D letter yourself or have your lawyer send it. While sending a letter yourself keeps the discussion more low-profile, there can be advantages to requesting your lawyer to send a C&D letter, as these letters tend to be taken more seriously. However, even if you decide to send a letter yourself, we recommend getting legal advice before sending it.
Report the clone to the platform
Video game platforms make it possible to publish games, which means that if a game contains infringing content, the platform essentially contributes to the infringement of intellectual property rights.
However, in most jurisdictions, the platforms have limited protection from copyright liability, provided they meet certain requirements, including:
- Having a notice-and-action mechanism where you can report infringement of intellectual property rights (often called “DMCA notices”);
- Processing submitted notices in a timely, diligent, objective and non-arbitrary way; and
- Removing content once it is established that it actually infringes third-party intellectual property rights.
If the copycat is published on a game platform, you can file a complaint with that platform.
When reporting an infringement of intellectual property rights, it is important to substantiate it with specific evidence. A general complaint about copying will often be insufficient.
In case of a trademark infringement, it is also important to submit evidence of your trademark registration.
Report the clone to the hosting provider
If a copycat appears on a website rather than a game platform, you can send a C&D letter to the hosting provider of the website or the registrar, using a similar procedure as for video game platforms.
Take it to court
If the developer or publisher does not respond to a well-founded C&D letter, or if the clone is causing serious and immediate harm, you may need to consider court proceedings.
Depending on the country and the claim, you may be able to seek an urgent order to stop distribution while the full case is decided.
Litigation is the final boss of enforcement: costly, lengthy, uncertain and complicated. Get proper legal advice and assess whether starting a case is worth it before you enter the arena.
Frequently asked questions
Can someone copy my video game idea?
Often, yes. Copyright generally protects original expression, not an idea, a broad concept, a genre or a style. However, if the other video game also copied code, art, music, text, branding or other protected material, that is often not allowed.
Does using AI make a game clone illegal?
No. Using AI does not, on its own, make a clone legal or illegal. You have to determine which protected assets have been copied from your game and whether the copy is an infringement of intellectual property rights.
Will Steam or any other platform take down a game that looks like mine?
Not necessarily. Steam provides copyright and trademark complaint routes, but a report should identify a specific right and provide evidence. Similar gameplay or a broad premise may not be enough. Platforms may also act under their own rules, but removal is not guaranteed. However, it is important to note that platforms such as Steam are tightening their game submission rules to prevent AI copies from flooding the stores.
Can AI-generated material be protected by copyright?
In the EU, copyright generally requires a human creative contribution. Purely AI-generated material with no meaningful human creative choices is generally not protected by copyright. Creative human edits, selection or arrangement may be protected to the extent of those contributions. That said, the law in this area is still developing – think of it as being in early access.
Should I cancel my demo to avoid copycats?
There is no universally right answer. Consider whether the demo reveals material that would be costly to copy, whether a trailer or smaller playtest could achieve your goal, and how much visibility matters to your launch. Closed playtests reduce broad access but cannot eliminate copying or leaks.
Summary and next steps
Sadly, nothing can make a game completely copy-proof. However, it is important that you can prove that you actually made the video game (or obtained the rights to it), to choose a distinct name and obtain a trademark, and update your EULA before you publicly release your video game (demo). In case your video game gets copied in a way that constitutes an infringement of your intellectual property rights, it is important to assess whether you want to take it down yourself or with help of an experienced video game lawyer.