Party Animals developer addresses "confusion" around playing offline
"We regret the misunderstanding."
Party Animals, previously one of the most wishlisted games on Steam, has come under fire since its release earlier this week, with scores of players calling out developer Recreate Games for what they say was false advertising.
This all stems from the game's description of its offline (and online) multiplayer, which originally read: "Paw it out with your friends both online and offline".
But Party Animals does not have an offline mode. As a result, many owners have left negative comments about the release.
However, Party Animals developer Recreate Games has now stated this has all been a case of mistranslation. In a new blog post, the studio has sought to clear up "confusion" around the game's now-changed description, and said that English was not the team's first language.
"Our intention with this sentence was to convey that you can play with your friends remotely (online), or together in the same location using the same device (offline) through splitscreen," Recreate wrote, admitting its original wording led to a misunderstanding which the studio now regrets.
The description for Party Animals has now been updated to better reflect what the game offers. It now reads: "Paw it out with your friends remotely, or huddle together for chaotic fun on the same screen".
The developer continued to apologise for the confusion around the game's initial description, stating it was "never [the] intention to mislead our player base about the availability of an offline mode". It also said it has no plans to introduce an offline mode down the line, reiterating players will need an online connection to enjoy the game.
"We never intended to create confusion. We now realise our description of the online splitscreen feature was poorly chosen. We are sorry for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused. We commit to improving our foreign language communication in the future," the studio closed.
I had a play around with Party Animals with Ed and Liv earlier this year, and we all enjoyed our time flopping inelegantly around the various maps.