Moonlighter studio Digital Sun Games announced it will not hold a public playtest for its upcoming game ReVamp. Instead, the studio plans to run a limited playtest exclusively through Discord.
According to PC Gamer, the decision stems from concerns about AI-led game cloning. Digital Sun Games stated that the studio decided against a public playtest specifically because of the risk that AI systems could harvest assets and design elements from publicly available builds.
The studio expressed broader industry concern about this issue. Digital Sun Games noted in a statement that developers beyond their team share similar worries about AI cloning. The studio said, "We know we're not the only developers feeling this way," indicating that concerns about AI-generated copies of games represent a growing problem across the industry.
By limiting the playtest to Discord participants, Digital Sun Games aims to maintain tighter control over who accesses ReVamp during testing phases. This approach restricts potential AI training data collection to a smaller, more controlled group rather than making the game available to the general public.
The decision highlights how AI tools capable of analyzing and recreating game assets have begun influencing developer practices around early access and community engagement. Rather than leveraging the traditional benefits of public playtests, Digital Sun Games opted for a more restricted distribution method to protect its work.
The statement from Digital Sun Games suggests this concern about AI cloning is widespread enough that other developers are making similar choices about how they release early builds and test content. The studio's decision reflects a new consideration developers must weigh when planning community engagement and testing phases for their titles.