Recreate Games has apologized after an AI-focused video contest for its popular casual brawler Party Animals drew heavy criticism from the community, insisting it “doesn’t mean to denigrate handmade work or disrespect its creators.”
Earlier this week, Recreate announced what it’s calling Party Animals’ first AI video contest, with a total prize pool of $75,000. It is seeking “short films, drama series, music videos, animations, etc.” and stipulates that all entries must be five minutes or less and that AI-generated content must be a “core creative tool.” He added, “Before, ideas like this could only exist in our heads. Now, with the advent of AI, we finally have a chance to make them a reality.”
But even a quick look at the 3.7,000 reactions generated by Recreate’s social media announcement shows that the Party Animals community wasn’t all that enthusiastic. “The fact that you have $75,000 to donate and would donate it to someone using artificial intelligence instead of an actual artist would actually be mind-boggling,” one poster wrote.
Another commenter was quick to highlight the “fucking irony” that Recreate’s contest terms and conditions included the line, “Plagiarism or unauthorized use of someone else’s work will result in disqualification.” Similarly, another response noted, “The irony of posting facts about animals to raise environmental awareness, and then hosting a contest that uses technology that actively harms animals.”
However, several commenters voiced their support, with one commenter claiming it was “AI art.” teeth Art, and it’s important and it helps a lot of people. ”
But ultimately, the overwhelmingly negative community reaction was so great that Recreate issued an apology. “We apologize for upsetting our players with this incident,” he wrote in a follow-up social media post. “We also apologize for not communicating clearly enough with everyone before the event began.”
The company also claimed that the original purpose of the contest was to “lower barriers to creativity.” This is because in previous competitions, “players with great ideas and scripts were not able to fully realize them because they were not familiar with tools such as editing, modeling and animation software. We wanted AI to become a more accessible tool that more people could participate in,” he added.
“That said, we understand the concerns regarding AI content.” “We don’t want to denigrate handmade work or disrespect creators. For us, AI is just a tool. What we really care about is the idea, the expression, and the final product.”
Recreate is currently asking the Party Animals community to vote on whether to cancel the AI video contest altogether, replace it with a non-AI creative contest, or keep the AI category and add another handmade category. However, the fact that the studio is even considering a third option is causing further surprise. One commenter said, “Rather than accept what people actually said about using AI, they decided to leave it up to the ‘community’ and still include the option to use AI.”
Of course, generative AI continues to stir up great controversy within and outside the gaming industry, due to concerns ranging from ethics to the environment. While some publishers and studios are embracing AI (as revealed this week, Amazon reportedly tried to create an AI game with disastrous results), others are taking a more cautious approach. Voice actors have been especially vocal about this technology, demanding safeguards and guarantees regarding its use.
Additionally, the large amounts of RAM and other components needed to help big tech companies race to build more data centers is currently causing conflict across the consumer electronics industry. Steam decks are becoming increasingly scarce, Steam Machines are being affected, Sony is said to be considering delaying the PS6, and Nintendo recently announced a price increase for the Switch 2 due in part to AI.
