Video games are hard to make. These weird and complex pieces of complicated interactive software take years to make and can sometimes break in very weird ways. For example, Powerwash Simulator gamers on Xbox realized that the game started to fail a lot when they connected with other people. And while a patch arrives to fix this nasty bug, the temporary solution from FuturLab developers is a bit silly. According to them, to stop accidents, all Xbox gamers have to do is avoid looking at the sun.
Powerwash Simulator is a very good and relaxing game about … well, use an electric washing machine to clean things up. (You should have guessed by name.) It came out a bit on PC via Steam Early Access, but only yesterday saw a full release, when it also made the leap to consoles via Xbox Game Pass.
But there is a problem where the game crashes when players try to clean up the world together. What could it be? Maybe the servers are not working? Maybe the clean code of the game is broken? Or maybe it’s even a problem with how the game handles data over a network connection?
We are aware of an Xbox multiplayer error issue. We are working on a quick fix as soon as possible. It is triggered by the flares of the lens and can be reduced by trying not to look directly at the sun and move. I thought this is not a good solution. Sorry for the inconvenience! 💦
– PowerWash Simulator (@PowerWashSim) July 14, 2022
No! According to the official Twitter account of Powerwash Simulator, the real culprit of all the crashes on Xbox is the use of the game of lens flares, which appear when you look at the digital sun. Like I said, video games are weird and complex stuff. Even sillier and weirder is the developer’s solution to this problem: stop looking at the sun so much, weird.
FuturLab admitted that this “is not a good solution” and apologized to the players for any inconvenience this error has caused. The developers say the problem with the lenses was detected in the “last second”, presumably before the game was released. Fortunately, in a follow-up tweet today, the developers confirmed that there is a solution for this solar hiccup. It arrives next week.
Kotaku has contacted FuturLab about the situation and has received this statement:
We know what it is, we are working as fast as we can to get it to the players and have a solution that we hope to come up with 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 this fiery orb of heaven.