Educational game dev program cancelled because students were submitting games made entirely with AI

The Australian STEM Videogame Challenge, a "free national videogame development competition for students," has confirmed that the rise of generative AI means this year's event will be the last.

The end of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Videogame Challenge was first reported on Reddit last week, when someone claiming to be a judge in the program said they'd received an email informing them that "after 12 wonderful years," the 2026 event would mark its end.

Speculation as to the cause of the program's cancellation focused primarily on the presence of AI in entries: Another self-proclaimed judge said the problem wasn't merely the use of AI in itself but that "some students just completely generate their games with AI. How do you mark that? You can't just give them a zero. It's so hard to tell what was or wasn't generated using AI, and especially hard since that's the way the industry is going."

That same person also suggested, however, that funding cutbacks could have been an even bigger factor in the decision, saying, "projects like this are the first to get cut" when government budgets get tight.

Now the Australian Council for Educational Research has confirmed that the cancellation was in fact due to AI.

"After more than a decade inspiring the next generation of young creators, the current 2026 Australian STEM Video Game Challenge will be the competition's final chapter," Cathy Zemaitis, Head of the Student Learning and Progress division at ACER, told PC Gamer.

"The decision was driven by the rapid and complex rise of generative AI in game development, making it harder to judge what students made themselves, and moving the program away from its original purpose."

So, that's that: A program aimed at encouraging kids to learn has come to an end because the kids learned how to get around the learning part. It's sad, although as a former high school reprobate myself I can't be too critical of the young'uns for doing what they do. I do wonder, though, what all of this might say about our future: Where will we be when we know how to prompt, but not how to create?

Zemaitis added that organizers are not looking at ways to adjusting the program to accommodate generative AI: "There are no plans to pursue alternative options for delivering the Australian STEM Videogame Challenge, however we're always looking for how we can partner with schools and the sector more broadly to deliver programs that enrich the learning experience of students." She also encouraged educators looking for other ways to "keep students challenged" to check out the International Mathematical Modelling Challenge.