{"id":1943430,"date":"2026-05-19T15:01:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1943430"},"modified":"2026-05-19T15:01:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:01:48","slug":"as-steam-early-access-sensation-far-far-west-sells-over-1-million-copies-in-three-weeks-publisher-fireshine-games-rejects-generative-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1943430","title":{"rendered":"As Steam early access sensation Far Far West sells over 1 million copies in three weeks, publisher Fireshine Games rejects generative AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/far-far-west\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Far Far West<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">As Steam early access sensation Far Far West sells over 1 million copies in three weeks, publisher Fireshine Games rejects generative AI<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">But some AI tools are allowed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Far-Far-West-explosion.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Far Far West explosion\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Far-Far-West-explosion.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Fireshine Games<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-05-19T15:01:48+00:00\">May 19, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"a544de8e-f189-4049-92ab-e2bb5742c28d\" data-name=\"Far Far West\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Far Far West\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Far Far West\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Far Far West\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Far Far West\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Far Far West\" title=\"Follow Far Far West\"><br \/>\n  Follow Far Far West<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fireshinegames.co.uk\/featured\/far-far-west\/\">Far Far West<\/a> &#8211; a sci-fi fantasy co-op shooter that launched on 28th April &#8211; is off to a fantastic early access start <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3124540\/Far_Far_West\/\">on Steam<\/a>, and its publisher is now making it very clear it&#8217;s not interested in working with developers that use generative AI tools.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, it was revealed <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FarFarWestGame\/status\/2056347864335278178?s=20\">the game had already crossed the 1m units mark<\/a> despite being limited to Steam and far from a 1.0 release. It&#8217;s a remarkable start for a game that isn&#8217;t a live-service offering and keeps things simple, and it appears <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/news\/app\/3124540\/view\/655979911377322207\">developer Evil Raptor is only getting started<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Far Far West &#8211; Official Early Access Launch Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cZbOvEFyE6Y\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, Fireshine Games (publisher) CEO Brian Foote has revealed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/how-fireshine-games-backed-a-winner-with-far-far-west\">during an interview with <\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/gamesindustry.biz\/\">GamesIndustry.biz<\/a> the company doesn&#8217;t &#8220;work with partners that are relying on generative AI or generative art&#8221;. In fact, it appears the publisher&#8217;s approach is close to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/manor-lords-publisher-hooded-horse-wont-work-with-studios-using-generative-ai\">Hooded Horse&#8217;s very open stance on gen-AI<\/a>. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s the red line we are very clear on,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Foote, however, is well aware of the realities of game development and software these days, and clarified there&#8217;s a bit of a grey area: &#8220;If AI means code completion or means using Copilot in Word, that&#8217;s an entirely different set of scenarios&#8230; It will be very hard for anybody to say they&#8217;re not touching AI in some way, shape or form, but in terms of the core game creation, that is not something that we think players are interested in at this point in time, and not something that we think is healthy for the development community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, use of generative AI and AI tools for game development is all over the place. From the aforementioned rejections to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-ai-game-project-trident-laid-off-anyway-report\">Amazon trying (and failing) to go all in<\/a>, we&#8217;re getting news and statements regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/capcom-vows-not-to-use-generative-ai-for-final-assets-but-wants-to-improve-efficiency\">the use of gen-AI assets<\/a> and AI-assisted &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/lies-of-p-sequel-neowiz-plans\">preliminary work<\/a>&#8221; almost every day now.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fireshinegames.co.uk\/featured\/far-far-west\/\">Far Far West<\/a> &#8211; a sci-fi fantasy co-op shooter that launched on 28th April &#8211; is off to a fantastic early access start <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3124540\/Far_Far_West\/\">on Steam<\/a>, and its publisher is now making it very clear it&#8217;s not interested in working with developers that use generative AI tools.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, it was revealed <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FarFarWestGame\/status\/2056347864335278178?s=20\">the game had already crossed the 1m units mark<\/a> despite being limited to Steam and far from a 1.0 release. It&#8217;s a remarkable start for a game that isn&#8217;t a live-service offering and keeps things simple, and it appears <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/news\/app\/3124540\/view\/655979911377322207\">developer Evil Raptor is only getting started<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Far Far West &#8211; Official Early Access Launch Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cZbOvEFyE6Y\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, Fireshine Games (publisher) CEO Brian Foote has revealed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/how-fireshine-games-backed-a-winner-with-far-far-west\">during an interview with <\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/gamesindustry.biz\/\">GamesIndustry.biz<\/a> the company doesn&#8217;t &#8220;work with partners that are relying on generative AI or generative art&#8221;. In fact, it appears the publisher&#8217;s approach is close to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/manor-lords-publisher-hooded-horse-wont-work-with-studios-using-generative-ai\">Hooded Horse&#8217;s very open stance on gen-AI<\/a>. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s the red line we are very clear on,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Foote, however, is well aware of the realities of game development and software these days, and clarified there&#8217;s a bit of a grey area: &#8220;If AI means code completion or means using Copilot in Word, that&#8217;s an entirely different set of scenarios&#8230; It will be very hard for anybody to say they&#8217;re not touching AI in some way, shape or form, but in terms of the core game creation, that is not something that we think players are interested in at this point in time, and not something that we think is healthy for the development community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, use of generative AI and AI tools for game development is all over the place. From the aforementioned rejections to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-ai-game-project-trident-laid-off-anyway-report\">Amazon trying (and failing) to go all in<\/a>, we&#8217;re getting news and statements regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/capcom-vows-not-to-use-generative-ai-for-final-assets-but-wants-to-improve-efficiency\">the use of gen-AI assets<\/a> and AI-assisted &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/lies-of-p-sequel-neowiz-plans\">preliminary work<\/a>&#8221; almost every day now.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Far Far West As Steam early access sensation Far Far West sells over 1 million copies in three weeks, publisher Fireshine Games rejects generative AI But some AI tools are allowed. Image credit: Fireshine Games News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on May 19, 2026 Follow Far Far West Far Far West &#8211; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1943430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1943430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1943430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1943430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1943430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}