{"id":960175,"date":"2026-05-14T22:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/960175\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T22:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:02:14","slug":"beloved-party-game-gets-review-bombed-over-ai-video-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/960175\/","title":{"rendered":"Beloved Party Game Gets Review-Bombed Over AI Video Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Party Animals<\/a> is a pretty uncontroversial game. It\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On May 12, the Party Animals Twitter account<\/a> announced the \u201cParty Animals AI Video Contest,\u201d which encouraged players to share AI-generated videos featuring \u201cpositive content centered around the Party Animals IP\u201d for a chance to earn real cash from a massive $75,000 prize pool.<\/p>\n

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Party Animals AI Video Contest is about to begin!<\/p>\n

What wild ideas have you had for Party Animals? Join the “Golden Paw Awards” now \u2014 Party Animals 1st AI Video Contest!<\/p>\n

A short film you’ve been dreaming of making, a story that breaks all the rules, a character tribute to your\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/kWgY4zvQT0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Party Animals (@party_animals) May 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To clarify, this wasn\u2019t even a regular fan video contest that just happened to allow AI or anything like that, which I\u2019m sure would still have stirred up a lot of controversy. The rules actually required that \u201cAIGC must be the core creative tool, including but not limited to AI-generated images, video, music, voiceovers, 3D assets, etc.\u201d The post also noted that \u201call submissions must be original works\u201d and that \u201cany plagiarism or unauthorized use of others\u2019 work will result in disqualification,\u201d which is hilarious because most generative AI models are built on stolen art, so it\u2019s all technically plagiarism anyway.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s recent rating on Steam quickly hit that dreaded \u201cMostly Negative\u201d status, too, and avid players have left reviews stating things like \u201cRest in peace, loved this game but they\u2019re leaning into AI now so I will no longer support this company\u201d and \u201cThe game itself is pretty decent, but do not support these developers for their blatant support of genAI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotsValve <\/p>\n

Two days after the announcement, the Party Animals team apologized and presumably canceled the contest, claiming that their \u201coriginal goal was to lower the barrier to creation.\u201d 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\u2019t doing too hot, while the first is currently in the lead by over 20%.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a little heartwarming to see so many people banding together to hate on AI once again<\/a>, but, really, the damage has already been done.<\/p>\n

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Hi everyone. We\u2019d like to address the recent discussion around the AI video contest, and first of all, we\u2019re sorry for upsetting players with this event. We\u2019re also sorry that we didn\u2019t communicate with everyone clearly enough before the event started.<\/p>\n

Our original goal was to\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Party Animals (@party_animals) May 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The pro-AI rhetoric that the contest promoted is kind of ridiculous, and it\u2019s the type of thing that players probably aren\u2019t going to forget about at any point in the near future. The post reads: \u201cA short film you\u2019ve been dreaming of making, a story that breaks all the rules, a character tribute to your favorite beast\u2026 In the past, ideas like these could only exist in your head. Now, with AI, they finally have a chance to become reality.\u201d But that\u2019s never been the case! People have always been able to create things on their own!<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n