Free demos and public playtests have become one of the best things about PC gaming. You get to try a game early, and small studios get to find the fans who will keep them going. This week, one well-known indie studio decided that openness has become too risky.
Quick answer: Digital Sun, the studio behind Moonlighter, has dropped a large public Steam playtest for its next game, ReVamp, because it fears AI tools could be used to reverse-engineer and clone the game before launch. The first playtest will run on the studio’s Discord from 29 October instead, with a public playtest hoped for around January.
What happened
Digital Sun, the Valencia-based studio behind Moonlighter, Cataclismo and The Mageseeker, had planned a public Steam playtest for its next game, ReVamp, a vampire-themed game that Kotaku describes as a “tower defensevania” due out in March 2027.
On 19 October the studio changed its plans. In its statement, Digital Sun said:
“We’ve been concerned by recent news of games being reverse-engineered, cloned and published before the original is even out. With launch still months away, a large public build of ReVamp felt like too big a risk.”
Instead, the first playtest will be smaller and run through the studio’s Discord, starting on 29 October. Digital Sun says it hopes to open a public playtest around January. The Verge reports the studio’s message to Steam sign-ups said that sharing a build “with tens of thousands of players felt like too big a risk”.
Why studios are worried
The fear is specific. A game build is software, and software can be pulled apart and rebuilt. That has always been possible, but it used to take skilled people a long time. Kotaku links the recent wave of concern to the latest version of Anthropic’s Claude Opus being used to decompile games and rebuild them far faster than people could before, with a rush of reverse-engineered games appearing online as a result.
The worry for a small studio is simple: someone downloads the playtest, uses AI to make a copy, and starts selling it before the real game is finished.
Digital Sun isn’t alone. Kotaku reports that Alliance Arts, the developer of Drunken Goddess Reflux, cancelled plans for a Steam Next Fest demo last week for the same reason. And VGC notes that Decomp.dev, one of the biggest sites for game decompilation projects, is “sunsetting”, partly because of “bad actors” hijacking in-development projects and using AI to release them early.
Why this matters beyond one game
The timing is awkward. Steam Next Fest is under way right now, and Kotaku notes the number of demos has doubled since March to more than 8,000. Demos are clearly still popular. But for a small team, a demo is also a copy of their work handed to anyone who wants it.
Digital Sun summed up the tension well: “Showing games early is how indies get seen and find the fans who keep us going, so we hope platforms keep strengthening protections for original work.”
If more studios follow, players could see fewer open playtests, more invite-only tests on Discord, and shorter or more cut-down demos. That would be a real loss, particularly for smaller games that rely on word of mouth.
What players can do
- Buy from the real page. Before you pay for an indie game, check the developer and publisher names on the store page match the studio you know. Clones often look right at a glance.
- Follow studios directly. If you want early access, joining a developer’s Discord or mailing list is increasingly the way in.
- Be patient with closed tests. A smaller playtest isn’t a studio being unfriendly. It may be the only safe way for them to share their work.
- Report copies. If you spot a game that looks like a copy of something unreleased, report it on the store and let the original developer know.
Trying demos on a PC with a pad? Our guide to connecting an Xbox controller to your PC covers USB-C, Bluetooth and the wireless adapter, and you’ll find controllers, headsets and more in our gaming shop.
What small developers and software makers can take from this
- Think about who gets a build, and when. Smaller, staged tests to known players, like Digital Sun’s Discord approach, limit how widely a build spreads.
- Keep early builds short. A focused slice of a game gives away less than a large chunk of it.
- Know your rights before you need them. Find out how the stores you sell on handle copyright complaints, so you can act fast if a copy appears.
- It’s not just games. Any business that shares downloadable software, from apps to tools, should assume it can now be picked apart more quickly than before, and plan accordingly.
For more on how businesses are thinking about AI risk, see our piece on Microsoft saying don’t trust your AI agents.
FAQ
Why did Digital Sun cancel the public ReVamp playtest?
The studio said it was concerned by games being reverse-engineered, cloned and published before the original is out, and that a large public build months before launch felt like too big a risk.
Can I still play ReVamp early?
Digital Sun’s first playtest runs through its Discord from 29 October. The studio says it hopes to open a public playtest around January. ReVamp is due out in March 2027.
Are other studios doing the same?
Yes. Kotaku reports that Alliance Arts cancelled plans for a Steam Next Fest demo of Drunken Goddess Reflux for the same reason.
Our verdict
AI tools are making it cheaper and faster to copy software, and an indie studio with a strong track record has decided that a public playtest is no longer worth the risk. It’s one decision by one studio, but it’s a clear sign that the open, try-before-you-buy culture of PC gaming is under new pressure.
The fix won’t come from studios alone. Stores and platforms will need to get quicker at spotting and removing clones. Until they do, expect more developers to keep their doors only half open.
Featured image: Markus Spiske (CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)