Party Animals developer cancels $75,000 AI video contest after massive player backlash

Steam devs' $75,000 AI video contest backfires in the most predictable way

Party Animals is a casual party brawler where you, as an adorable animal, beat up other adorable animals in chaotic and funny combat. It was released in late 2023 for Windows PC and Xbox Series X (and later ended up on PlayStation 5 in 2025) and became a hit with players, having over 17,000 lifetime "Very Positive" player reviews on Steam. Its recent reception, however, hasn't been so positive, and it's not surprising why. On Wednesday, developer Recreate Games announced a video contest with $75,000 in prizes. But it didn't want just any videos -- entries "must be primarily created using AI tools," the official contest rules stated. "A short film you've been dreaming of making, a story that breaks all the rules, a character tribute to your favorite beast... In the past, ideas like these could only exist in your head. Now, with AI, they finally have a chance to become reality," the developer stated on X. (Ironically, the rules also stated "all submissions must be original works" even though... most generative AI is based on copyright infringement and the stolen work of real artists.) As gamers are becoming increasingly anti-AI -- just look at the responses to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's AI admission or Larian Studios' plans to use the technology in its upcoming game Divinity -- the Party Animals player base reacted quite negatively to the contest and review bombed the game on Steam. "Rest in peace, loved this game but they're leaning into AI now so I will no longer support this company," one recent review said. "Sucks to see a good party game stoop so low to replace assets and/or community competitions with AI garbo," another negative review stated. Recreate Games has since apologized and is now conducting a poll to see where the community wants to go next with the video contest. On Thursday, shortly after the contest was set to begin, Recreate Games posted on X in an attempt to "address the recent discussion" concerning the AI video contest. "Our original goal was to lower the barrier to creation. [...] We hoped AI could be a more accessible tool that lets more people take part," it wrote. "That said, we understand the concerns around AI content. We are not trying to dismiss handmade work or disrespect creators. To us, AI is just another tool. What we truly care about is the idea, the expression, and the final work." In a pinned post on the Party Animals X account, Recreate Games is asking for feedback. People can vote to cancel the contest entirely, change it to a non-AI contest, or keep the AI component and add a non-AI version. As of this writing, 57.3% of voters want the contest canceled. Only 7.9% want the AI version to stand. It certainly seems like Recreate Games' attempt at making amends isn't going over as planned. "For you guys to think this poll is even needed rather than just walking it back after all the backlash is almost worse than allowing it in the first place," one X user wrote. "Unfortunately as others have said, the fact you see GenAI as a "tool" and the inclusion of option 3 on this poll shows you've listened and learned nothing. Disappointing," another said. Subscribe for in-depth newsletter coverage of gaming AI conflicts Want clearer context on gaming disputes? Subscribe to our newsletter for thoughtful analysis of AI in games, developer choices, and player backlash. Subscribing brings nuanced perspectives that help you parse controversies and community sentiment. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. The poll is open for two more days, but at this point the player sentiment from the 4,900+ votes cast is pretty clear. Indie Game Awards rescinds Clair Obscur's GOTY wins over use of generative AI The RPG originally launched with AI generated background assets before a patch removed them Posts 166

"We overlooked the potential offense and harm" - the studio behind popular multiplayer game Party Animals has now cancelled its AI video competition entirely

Last week, Recreate Games apologised after an AI-generated video competition for its popular casual brawler Party Animals drew significant criticism from its community. Now, it's cancelled the competition entirely. Recreate announced on X yesterday that after receiving "a significant amount of negative feedback", Party Animals' AI video contest has been cancelled effective immediately. "Even though our original intention was to encourage more diverse forms of creative expression and lower the barrier to entry, allowing more players who love Party Animals to participate, we mistakenly tied 'lowering the barrier' together with 'using AI'," Recreate wrote. "In doing so, we overlooked the potential offense and harm that the ongoing debate surrounding AI-generated content could cause to our players and the creator community. We feel deeply uneasy and apologetic about this, and we sincerely accept the criticism." The post goes on to explain how the developers plan to collect and act upon player feedback in the future, although without mentioning specifics. Responses to the announcement seem to be mostly negative, with some even suggesting the post might have been written by AI. Looking at the wider games industry and the ongoing discussion about AI and its role in game development, we know of publishers and studios embracing it; some have even attempted (and failed) to create entire games, like Amazon. Even Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi is somewhat intrigued by it. On the other hand, there are those refusing to give generative AI any space. How should a studio use it, if at all? The debate rages on.

Party Animals' studio finally cancels its AI video contest and promises to approach topics like this in the future 'with a much more humble and cautious attitude'

It's official: there will be no AI video contest as part of Party Animals "Golden Paw Awards", as its studio has decided after masses of player backlash followed by a vote across major platforms to wholly cancel the event and apologise to players. "Regarding the controversy surrounding the recent 'Golden Paw Awards' AI Video Contest, we would like to offer our deepest apologies," the studio says in a social media post. "To all players who have expressed concern, shared criticism, and voiced their opinions -- especially to our creator community. "To the players who were troubled, disappointed, or offended by this situation, we would like to once again express our sincere apologies. To every player who voiced criticism, participated in the vote, and pushed us to re-evaluate this issue, we would like to express our most sincere gratitude." The studio went on to explain that, on reflection, its original handling of the situation was "insufficient". Although, certainly in the right ballpark that may be a slight understatement. After announcing the original AI video contest and encountering masses of backlash from all sorts of players, its initial response was to ponder whether the event should go ahead anyway. "Even though our original intention was to encourage more diverse forms of creative expression and lower the barrier to entry, allowing more players who love Party Animals to participate," the studio explains. "We mistakenly tied 'lowering the barrier' together with 'using AI.' In doing so, we overlooked the potential offense and harm that the ongoing debate surrounding AI-generated content could cause to our players and the creator community. We feel deeply uneasy and apologetic about this, and we sincerely accept the criticism." There's no question that this was the right move for Party Animals, even if it did come a little late. But following on from the apology the devs have promised that this will be a learning experience for them, and will take more care around using and promoting AI over real artists in the future. "Moving forward, we will approach related topics with a much more humble and cautious attitude," the studio says. "Before launching any future community creation events, we pledge to communicate thoroughly, listen earnestly to your feedback, and ensure we have reached a community consensus before deciding whether to go ahead... We hereby promise to listen more closely to our players, respect your voices, and maintain a tighter line of communication with the community."

Party Animals studio sparks fury with 'AI video contest,' apologizes, then makes things even worse by asking if it should hold the contest anyway

Fair to say that this didn't go as Recreate Games expected it to. Party Animals developer Recreate Games has apologized for an "AI video contest" it announced earlier this week that encouraged players to submit short films created with generative AI tools. It's not cancelling the contest, though -- instead, it's opened a poll asking followers what it should do. Recreate first announced the contest on May 13, telling followers that ideas that previously "could only exist in your head" can now "become reality" thanks to the power of AI. Submissions would be open until August 31, and winners would be eligible for "a share" of a $75,000 prize pool. The reaction was undoubtedly not what the studio was expecting. The replies to the post on X were highly negative -- I don't want to say "universally" negative because I may have missed one, but I've scrolled way down through the thread and the hostility is not easing up. Naturally, there was the traditional Bombing of the Reviews on Steam. So now, the climbdown. "Our original goal was to lower the barrier to creation," Recreate wrote in today's post. "In past contests, we saw players with great ideas and scripts who couldn't fully bring them to life because they weren't familiar with tools like editing, modeling, or animation software. We hoped AI could be a more accessible tool that lets more people take part. "That said, we understand the concerns around AI content. We are not trying to dismiss handmade work or disrespect creators. To us, AI is just another tool. What we truly care about is the idea, the expression, and the final work." Rather than changing or ending the contest, though, the studio put up a poll with three options: Cancel the AI video contest, change it to a non-AI contest, or keep it as it is but add a separate "handmade category." And that has somehow made things even worse: Some replies say people without video creation skills maybe shouldn't expect to place well in a contest that's ostensibly about video creation skills, while others say if Recreate Games was serious about lowering the barrier to entry it would make models, textures, assets, and tutorials available to everyone. Many others complain that saying "AI is just another tool" is damning in its own right, as it suggests Recreate is already using it internally -- an allegation the studio has faced previously. AI is indeed a tool that many developers take advantage of in one way or another, and it's sometimes unfairly demonized by way of vague, over-broad definitions. But the blowback against Recreate is especially harsh because this contest, and by extension the studio's statement, is based specifically on generative AI, which is a red line for most gamers and game makers. Responses to the poll at this point, as you might expect, lean heavily against AI: 58% of the more than 5,700 respondents thus far say the contest should be cancelled outright, while 35% believe it should be changed to non-AI; only 8% think the AI contest should continue. The poll is set to run for a couple more days but frankly, I think we can safely call it right here. I've reached out to Recreate Games for comment and will update if I receive a reply.

Beloved Party Game Gets Review-Bombed Over AI Video Contest

If every contest entry is AI-generated, but “all submissions must be original works,†does that mean everyone gets disqualified? Party Animals is a pretty uncontroversial game. It’s a casual physics sim party game where players brawl as adorable animals while completing Mario Party-like mini-game objectives. After its release in 2023, it received pretty solid reviews, and quite a few players racked up hundreds of hours in it. Its reputation has quickly been torched, however, after the developers promoted possibly the one thing that could set such a dedicated community ablaze: a generative AI contest. To clarify, this wasn’t even a regular fan video contest that just happened to allow AI or anything like that, which I’m sure would still have stirred up a lot of controversy. The rules actually required that “AIGC must be the core creative tool, including but not limited to AI-generated images, video, music, voiceovers, 3D assets, etc.†The post also noted that “all submissions must be original works†and that “any plagiarism or unauthorized use of others’ work will result in disqualification,†which is hilarious because most generative AI models are built on stolen art, so it’s all technically plagiarism anyway. Players are now, as expected, pretty pissed off. Commenters who vowed to never buy the game or play it again earned have thousands of upvotes on social media. The game’s recent rating on Steam quickly hit that dreaded “Mostly Negative†status, too, and avid players have left reviews stating things like “Rest in peace, loved this game but they're leaning into AI now so I will no longer support this company†and “The game itself is pretty decent, but do not support these developers for their blatant support of genAI.†Two days after the announcement, the Party Animals team apologized and presumably canceled the contest, claiming that their “original goal was to lower the barrier to creation.†The Twitter account is now hosting a vote to determine the next steps for the contest. There are three options: cancel the contest, turn it into an AI-free contest, or keep the AI category and add a separate category for actual art. Unsurprisingly, that last choice isn’t doing too hot, while the first is currently in the lead by over 20%. It’s a little heartwarming to see so many people banding together to hate on AI once again, but, really, the damage has already been done. The pro-AI rhetoric that the contest promoted is kind of ridiculous, and it’s the type of thing that players probably aren’t going to forget about at any point in the near future. The post reads: “A short film you've been dreaming of making, a story that breaks all the rules, a character tribute to your favorite beast... In the past, ideas like these could only exist in your head. Now, with AI, they finally have a chance to become reality.†But that’s never been the case! People have always been able to create things on their own! Possibly the worst part of this whole debacle, though, is that the contest was set to offer a $75,000 dollar prize pool, which is a little nauseating to think about. $75,000! For videos generated by AI! I know quite a few devs who have been laid off due to the growth of AI and would get on their hands and knees for the chance to earn $75,000. Instead, here we are, giving it all away to promote a tool that encourages the loss of human creativity, which is the very thing that makes Party Animals an enjoyable game in the first place. What are we even doing here?

Studio behind hit co-op game apologizes after $75,000 AI video contest leads to Steam review bomb: "We hoped AI could be a more accessible tool"

The Party Animals developer's "original goal was to lower the barrier to creation" The studio behind Party Animals has found itself in hot water after announcing an AI-generated video contest that promised $75,000 worth of prizes for participants, a plan that prompted heated backlash on Steam and an apology from the developers. As you might remember, Party Animals is the co-op brawler that came out almost three years ago. What began as a physics-based hoot reheating Human Fall Flat's nachos has since turned into a more generally pleasant party game that includes a chill fishing minigame, what looks like a kart-racing mode, and other activities to enjoy with friends. Things went sideways for the normally well-liked game earlier this week, however, when the devs welcomed players to enter a contest for AI-generated videos. "A short film you've been dreaming of making, a story that breaks all the rules, a character tribute to your favorite beast," the studio wrote on social media. "In the past, ideas like these could only exist in your head. Now, with AI, they finally have a chance to become reality." The contest promised a grand prize of $15,000 and more prizes totaling $75,000 altogether, all for prompt videos about players' "wild ideas" for the game. "AIGC must be the core creative tool," was one of the rules. The Party Animals contest, as you can imagine, didn't go down too well. On Steam, the game's 1,200 recent reviews are 'Mostly Negative' with 73% of people giving it a red score. Limiting the contest to AI content only and having people enter via online hashtags made the competition seem more like a way to flood social media algorithms with mass-produced slop. "Rest in peace," one such negative review says, "loved this game but they're leaning into AI now so I will no longer support this company." "Sucks to see a good party game stoop so low to replace assets and/or community competitions with AI garbo," another writes. "COMPENSATE ACTUAL ARTISTS!!!" Complaints eventually got so loud that the Party Animals account stepped in to respond with an apology of sorts: "We'd like to address the recent discussion around the AI video contest, and first of all, we're sorry for upsetting players with this event. We're also sorry that we didn't communicate with everyone clearly enough before the event started." Developer Recreate Games claims its "original goal was to lower the barrier to creation" for people who might not have the editing, modeling, or animation skills to otherwise participate. "We hoped AI could be a more accessible tool that lets more people take part," it adds, before saying it didn't mean to "dismiss handmade work or disrespect creators." In an effort to make amends, the studio is now giving the player base three options to vote on via Twitter or the official forums: Cancel the contest entirely, turn it into a non-AI contest, or have the AI contest proceed as planned,d with a separate category for human-made videos. Even that response hasn't swept the controversy under the rug, judging by replies in the Party Animals forum, at least. Talking about generative AI as a tool - a means to an end - somewhat dismisses real concerns people have around the tech's environmental and ethical impact. And while wanting to open up a creative contest to more people is an admirable pursuit, there's not much creativity involved in prompting. One fan suggested the company could make a few assets publicly available if accessibility were the dev's main concern, which I thought was a nice idea.

'Rest in Peace' -- Party Animals Review-Bombed Over AI Video Contest

Co-op game Party Animals has been spammed with hundreds of negative reviews after it announced a $15,000 AI video contest. As detailed on the game's official website, Recreate Games is running a competition, inviting short films, drama series, animations, music videos, and more on any theme as long as it's "positive" and connected to the Party Animals game. So far, so what, right? Well, it's the next bit of the rules that's caused a little commotion. "[AI-generated content] must be the core creative tool, including but not limited to AI-generated images, video, music, voiceovers, 3D assets, etc.," the competition insists. The winner secures a whopping $15,000, with cash awards of $1,500-4,500 also available for runner-ups. While Party Animals maintains a "very positive" Steam user review rating for all English reviews, recent reviews are now "mostly negative" after over 800 negative reviews were left since the competition was announced. "Rest in peace, loved this game but they're leaning into AI now so I will no longer support this company," reads the "most helpful review," posted by someone with over 26 hours on record. "I genuinely wonder if any company ever takes even a single glance online, to see what the general consensus is around AI, before they do something like this," commented one unhappy player. Another more moderate take said: "I think the general consensus is not the same as a vocal minority. The general consensus still just views AI as a novelty with no strong feelings for or against it." Another replied: "This is similar to the massive push of gambling in and around all sports things. They want to normalize it so more and more of their potential customer base doesn't know a world where it wasn't ubiquitous to some degree." Someone else wrote: "We saw this exact same song and dance when NFTs were the hot new buzzword." "The rules are pretty funny too," pointed out another commenter. "'Any plagiarism or unauthorized used of others' work will result in disqualification. Like, do y'all know how generative AI even works...?" Developer Recreate Games has yet to respond to the complaints. The issue of generative AI's impact on the creative industries remains one of the hottest topics in all entertainment, and some are all-in on the emerging tech. The CEO of Genvid -- the company behind choose-your-own-adventure interactive series like Silent Hill Ascension -- recently claimed "consumers generally do not care" about generative AI, and stated that: "Gen Z loves AI slop." EA CEO Andrew Wilson has said AI is "the very core of our business," and Square Enix recently implemented mass layoffs and reorganized, saying it needed to be "aggressive in applying AI." Dead Space creator Glen Schofield also recently detailed his plans to "fix" the industry in part via the use of generative AI in game development, and former God of War dev Meghan Morgan Juinio said: "... if we don't embrace [AI], I think we're selling ourselves short." Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, however, recently called the idea of AI making games like GTA 6 "laughable." Reflecting on the reception to Google's Project Genie, which can generate interactive worlds from a text prompt -- the tech demo for which briefly sent game company share prices tumbling -- Zelnick insisted: "These tools may help you create assets, but that won't help you create hits."