《教妹妹开车》免费 Steam 试玩 AI 日耗超 1000 美元，开发商 Easy Fox 借款维持
Free Steam demo’s $1,000 daily AI bill forces developer to get bank loan
《教妹妹开车》开发商 Easy Fox 因免费 Steam demo 的 AI 费用超每日 1000 美元，于 10 月 7 日公告称已借银行贷款维持运行。过去一月试玩人数涨超二十倍，AI 供应商 Gemini 触限致改用 OpenAI 后备模型并出现响应迟缓等问题，四人小团队称若财务压力持续可能提前关 demo。
The developers of Teach My Little Sister How To Drive have taken out a bank loan to keep the game’s free Steam demo running after its AI costs climbed past $1,000 a day.
Developer Easy Fox said that demo player numbers had increased more than “twentyfold” over the past month, leaving them struggling to cover the cost of the game’s AI features.
AI costs threaten popular Steam demo
Teach My Little Sister How To Drive is a driving simulator that puts players in the passenger seat as they attempt to teach their younger sister how to drive.
Rather than taking control of the car themselves, players give their digital sibling spoken instructions to help her navigate the roads, with AI interpreting their commands and generating her responses.
However, its growing popularity has created an expensive problem for the developers.
“We are currently spending over $1,000 per day on AI services for the demo,” the developer explained in an October 7 Steam update.
They said that while individual players weren’t particularly expensive to support, the sheer number of people trying the demo has pushed operating costs far beyond what the team anticipated.
“The total cost has increased because so many people are playing, and we have taken out a bank loan to help keep the demo running,” they said.
The developer also encountered problems with AI providers. Google’s Gemini model, originally the primary choice, frequently hit usage limits, forcing the studio to rely more heavily on an OpenAI fallback model.
That has introduced other issues, including lengthy responses, unnatural dialogue, and the sister occasionally misunderstanding instructions.
The developer said it’s not planning to charge players separately for AI usage when the full game launches, accounting for those costs in the purchase price instead.
As of writing, the demo for Teach My Little Sister How To Drive remains available.
“We want to continue operating the demo and would love for more people to enjoy it,” the developer said.
“However, we are a small team of four, and financial pressure may mean we have to close the demo earlier than expected before the full release.”
While Easy Fox didn’t specify what caused the popularity spike, exposure from content creators such as CaseOh, who played the game on stream, will undoubtedly have played a role.
来源：Dexerto · dexerto.com