Last summer, solo developer Eero “Rakuel” Laine released Hardest, a free-to-play card game roguelike that he openly admitted was created with AI-generated assets. Since then, Laine has had a change of heart about AI and decided to delete Hardest from Steam on January 30.
In a message posted to Hardest’s Steam page, Laine credited his epiphany to his significant other and explained why he used AI assets in the first place.
“I made this game during the summer in couple months and thought to use AI because in university there is so much brainwashing on students and all the tools are given for free,” wrote Laine. “So I could generate unlimited images for free … But I have realized the AI is not actually free, and it has a major effect on the economy and environment.”
