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.
The poll is open for two more days, but at this point the player sentiment from the 4,900+ votes cast is pretty clear.
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