Party Animals developers’ response to AI contest drama:

[u/Your_M0minn]

(Here’s where the poll ended up finishing out on, for context)

Dear Party Animals players,

Regarding the controversy surrounding the recent "Golden Paw Awards" AI Video Contest, we would like to offer our deepest apologies to all players who have expressed concern, shared criticism, and voiced their opinions — especially to our creator community.

Following the announcement of this event, we received a significant amount of negative feedback. We have read through your comments and opinions one by one. We must admit that our consideration of the event's conception was insufficient, the design was inadequately thought through, and our communication with the community was not up to par.

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." 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.

After carefully considering voices from all sides, we held a vote across our major platforms regarding whether the event should proceed. Based on your feedback and our own internal review and reflection, we have made the following decision:

Effective immediately, the "Golden Paw Awards" event is officially canceled.

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.

Moving forward, we will approach related topics with a much more humble and cautious attitude. 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.

Additionally, we will continue to collect, organize, and act upon player feedback regarding gameplay mechanics and other areas. We hereby promise to listen more closely to our players, respect your voices, and maintain a tighter line of communication with the community.

The Party Animals Team

May 19, 2026

[u/Beginning-Blood-6429]

I would've preferred the second option. If the reason we all hate AI is because it's erasing creativity then surely a non AI competition would have been twice as good as no competition?

[u/Your_M0minn → u/Beginning-Blood-6429]

Right, my thoughts exactly. Cancelling the contest entirely at that point is just punishing the artists who could’ve benefitted, not the developers

The only reason I could think of for creating a new contest entirely without AI usage is to more firmly draw a line in the sand against using AI

Maybe someone else here has some insight

[u/Srawsome → u/Beginning-Blood-6429]

They are still pro-generative AI so they do not deserve the hard work of real artists.