Video games are difficult to create. These strange, complex, interactive pieces of software take years to create and can sometimes break in very strange ways. For example, the players of Powerwash Simulator on Xbox noticed the game started crashing a lot when they started going online with other people. And while a patch is coming to fix this nasty bug, the temporary solution from the developers at FuturLab is a bit silly. According to them, to prevent problems, all Xbox players need to do is avoid looking at the sun.
Powerwash Simulator is a very nice, relaxing game about… well, use the electric washing machine to clean things. (You should have guessed that from the name.) It’s been out a bit on PC via Steam Early Access, but only saw a full release yesterday, when it also made the big leap for the system. consoles via Xbox Game Pass.
But there is a problem that the game crashes when players try to clean the world together. What could it be? Maybe the server is down? Maybe the game’s network code is broken? Or maybe it’s even an issue with the way the game handles data over the network connection?
No! Based on Powerwash Emulator’the official Twitter account of the Twitter account, the real culprit behind all the trouble on Xbox is the game’s use of flare lenses, which appear when you look up at the digital sun. Like I said, video games are weird and complicated things. Even louder and crazier is the developer’s solution to this problem: Don’t look at the sun too much, geek.
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FuturLab admits this is “not a great solution” and apologizes to the player for any inconvenience this bug has caused. The developers say the problem with lens flares was noted at the “last second”, presumably before the game was even launched. Fortunately, in a follow-up tweet from earlier today, the developers have confirmed a hotfix for this solar glitch is working. It is due next week.
Kotaku contacted FuturLab about the situation and received the following statement:
We know what it is, are working as fast as we can to get it in the hands of players, and have a fix that we hope will be out by the end of next week.
In the meantime, thankfully, you can still play Powerwash Simulator solo to enjoy its relaxing cleaning simulation in perfect harmony with that fiery orb in the sky.
