Update: Panic won't release Playdate titles that use certain forms of generative AI

3 Min Read

Update (04/20/26): In a statement to Game Developer, Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser reiterated that any Playdate release the company is directly involved in will prohibit all forms of generative AI, but confirmed developers simply looking to distribute their title on Catalog will be permitted to use AI for coding.

"Playdate Catalog has historically required Al use be disclosed by the developer for any game submissions, that part has never changed. But as of this month, the Playdate Catalog storefront now prohibits Al-generated art, music, and writing from any third-party game submissions moving forward," said Sasser.

"We believe we're one of the first (and possibly only?) digital game storefronts to do this. Steam, Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store, even Itch, etc. all still permit this type of Al-generated work in their listings. We felt this was an important step to take for both game quality and Our community.

Related:New Remedy CEO wants to preserve small budgets and break into Asia

"Additionally, at this time, any games submitted to Playdate Catalog that use Al for coding will be flagged as such, with the scope of usage specifically disclosed by the developer and presented to the customer, so customers can choose if they want to avoid them."

As noted on the company's AI Disclosure page, Sasser stressed that Panic will be revisiting its policies regarding generative AI usage in the future.

Original story: Panic will no longer allow developers to publish titles that use generative AI tools to generate art, audio, music, text, or dialog onto its Playdate storefront, Catalog. 

In a post on Bluesky, the company also confirmed that Playdate Season 3—a premium bundle of games rolled out on a weekly basis—will not feature titles that have leveraged generative AI in any capacity. 

The news comes after Wheelsprung, a game that used generative AI tools Github Copilot and ChatGPT to assist with coding and writing, was included in Playdate Season 2.

As noted by video game zine, Exp., Panic said Wheelsprung slipped under the radar because it simply didn't consider the possibility that a Season 2 developer would use LLMs. "In hindsight, that was naive—we take full responsibility," said Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser at the time. 

Now, Panic has published an official AI Disclosure confirming it will be prohibiting most forms of generative AI usage on its Playdate storefront. An exception, however, is being made for titles that use generative AI coding tools. 

"As of April 2026, Catalog will no longer accept titles that use 'Generative AI' for art, audio, music, text, or dialog," reads the disclosure. "There are lots of people in the world who are extremely eager and excited to create beautiful music, art, and words for your Playdate creation."

Related:Enduring advice for all game producers: Unlocking the Vault 2.0

"[...] Any previously approved or released Catalog titles that used 'Generative AI' will still be available on Catalog at this time, and will be flagged as such with an explanation of how it was used.

"For the time being, we will allow Catalog titles that have used AI assistance in the coding process, but we will flag any title as such and specify the extent that it was used (for example, 'Lua debugging') so the customer can decide whether to support it or not. All of this is under constant discussion and is subject to change at any time. We will update this page as we make further changes."

Panic explained its definition of generative AI includes LLMs such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and Google Gemini; AI-based image generation models like Stable Diffusion and DALL-E; and AI-based audio generation models including MuseNet, Suno, and Udio. 

It does not include custom-written functions for determining in-game behaviors.

Game Developer has reached out to Panic for more information. 

About the Author