FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN FRANCISCO — 10 March 2026 DeGen Rivals, a multiplayer vehicle battle royale, is coming off a successful debut at Steam Next Fest and revealing its latest feature: a UGC component that lets players take the reins and create wild one-of-a-kind in-game assets.
Background: What is DeGen Rivals?
DeGen Rivals is a kart-based action-arcade game for PC and Mobile. Developed by Look Mister, DeGen Rivals has been described as Mario Kart meets Fortnite. 8 players jump into fast-paced party game modes such as Battle Royale, Cops n’ Robbers, Order Up, and more. The public demo of DeGen Rivals launched at Steam Next Fest in February to enormous fanfare with thousands of downloads, and the full version will be released free-to-play in April.
What’s the new update?
Today, the developers announced a mechanic called The Lab. Rather than limit the players to limited pre-made avatars for their in-game characters (“DeGens”), players will be able to mix “DNA Traits” (hamburgers, cats, pizza, zombies, etc.) together in infinite combinations, making every player’s avatar completely unique.
The results? The Lab-generated DeGens are unhinged, to say the least.
The Lab feature was first teased at Twitchcon 2025 to enormous gamer acclaim.
Why AI?
“We are not using Generative AI to replace human artistry,” explained DeGen Rival’s creator Josh Hassin. “We have a team of 3D artists that make our levels, vehicles, and other game assets by hand. This UGC component is the only part of our game that uses Generative AI. It gives players a fun and unique way to experiment and create custom assets that are unique to them and their personalities and tastes.”
Hassin is happy to admit that the AI results are not “human quality”. That’s not the point of The Lab, he explains. “The Lab is a place where accidents are encouraged, where mutations create happy accidents. It is an on-demand, custom-made, kind of ugly-looking little dude that you can generate uniquely for yourself on-demand. If you get a laugh out of your DeGen, we’ve done our job.”
DeGen Rivals will be at the GDC Festival of Games with their partner Tripo AI at Booth #1141 answering questions.
DeGen Rivals goes live on Steam in April.
For all inquiries, please contact Philip Harker at phil@degenrivals.com or visit degenrivals.com for more information.
Wishlist DeGen Rivals on Steam today.
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