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Content Warning: The games industry, much like any other industry, is fraught with power imbalances and people who take advantage of those power imbalances. As such, this thread may delve into topics such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and suicide. There are probably other sensitive topics that will be touched upon. Above all else, please try to remain respectful when discussing these topics. Here is a totally random list of guidelines that won’t be enforced in any way that differentiates this thread from other threads in the Games subforum. This list simply acts as a set of posting guidelines and expected behavior for posting in this thread: quote:This thread is for Games Industry news only. Alright, that’s it. Again, try not to be a dick, and if someone’s being a dick (in a way that doesn’t break the forum rules) try to ignore them. There are definitely a lot of people here who thrive on attention and don’t care whether it’s positive or negative. The forum does have an ignore function, so consider utilizing that if you find someone particularly annoying. If they are breaking the forum rules, please report them!
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Feb 4, 2023 04:17
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the thread are lame! Don’t be lame!
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Anyways, it looks like a lot of live service games are shutting down recently. Who knows what’s next? https://twitter.com/gematsu/status/1621564315504451585
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Feb 4, 2023 04:18
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More like wild speculation heyoo I haven’t heard of most of those games, and I guess that’s why they are being shut down. Can’t wait for Ubisoft to launch more like service games that no one will play. It’s gonna be great or terrible. I won’t know, I won’t play them.
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Feb 4, 2023 04:52
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Has anyone heard anything about THE FINALS?? The alpha back in November? Was a loving blast, and it ruined all of the other shooters for me (pending Atomic Heart, which is sp and doesn't count)
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Feb 4, 2023 06:58
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Since I'm pretty sure this happened while the thread was closed, ATVI got a little bitty slap on the wrist. https://kotaku.com/activision-blizzard-sexual-misconduct-sec-whistleblower-1850070728 As an Activision Blizzard employee, my opinions are my own and do not reflect those of the company
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Feb 4, 2023 07:12
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The only one from that list that I've actually played is Knockout City, which I found to me a pretty fun arena "shooter" (actually dodgeball, not really shooting guns.) However, I have also heard of Rumbleverse (and Apex Legends, of which I'm guessing ALM is a port) and I'm a little bummed to hear that one's shutting down; Iron Galaxy seems like a cool place and I'd like to see them succeed, personally. Interestingly, I'm guessing this is a consequence of it being an Epic Store exclusive, and I've heard that Epic is the one footing the bill, but this is something I'd like to see from projects that shut down this soon after release: https://twitter.com/Rumbleverse/status/1620528426670239746 Specifically, the "Players who have made any purchase since launch will be eligible for a refund." part.
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Feb 4, 2023 07:13
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Scholtz posted:Anyways, it looks like a lot of live service games are shutting down recently. Who knows what’s next? Love Live shutting down is actually a pretty big one and a little weird to me - it's a very long running rhythm/gacha game, and they're taking the odd move of shutting down the first game with its purported sequel game in the pipeline but not ready to launch yet. I don't really see why they wouldn't just keep the lights on for the first game as long as they can to keep pulling down cash while the second game spins up, but what do I know.
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Feb 5, 2023 07:39
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Scholtz posted:Interestingly, I'm guessing this is a consequence of it being an Epic Store exclusive, and I've heard that Epic is the one footing the bill, but this is something I'd like to see from projects that shut down this soon after release: They're likely doing it specifically because it's so close to its release and the shutdown announcement is so sudden, to head off any potential consumer complaints.
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Feb 5, 2023 14:25
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Kanos posted:They're likely doing it specifically because it's so close to its release and the shutdown announcement is so sudden, to head off any potential consumer complaints. They also would like to maintain good will for future projects and can afford to do this. If they did not have the money spigot of Fortnite funding this + future projects in the pipeline I don't know if they'd be this "generous".
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Feb 5, 2023 15:14
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Echo VR is a funny one- it's a reasonably popular (which means hundreds of concurrents in its heyday and one or two hundred concurrents today) VR game whose company was bought by Meta because of its popularity. However, word from inside the company is that they've been largely incapable of getting their own code to do anything since being bought. They haven't been able to integrate with meta's services, and they haven't been able to fix a bug that causes the matchmaking server to crash when ~500 people try to play at once.
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Feb 5, 2023 21:12
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Scholtz posted:Anyways, it looks like a lot of live service games are shutting down recently. Who knows what’s next? They announced they're dropping support for Avengers, too.
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Feb 5, 2023 22:36
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Does this count as game industry?https://www.eurogamer.net/american-judge-dismisses-switch-joy-con-drift-lawsuit posted:American judge dismisses Switch Joy-Con drift lawsuit american legal system sucks rear end lol, forced arbitration clauses in EULAs are such an insanely lovely/shady thing
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Feb 6, 2023 00:34
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Y'all might enjoy a recently started podcast UNBOXING: Play & Profit for the Gaming Curious. It's by two professors at NYU who teach media history & business, looking at recent gaming news especially with a focus on the business side of things. It's really well produced.
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Feb 6, 2023 02:48
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RPATDO_LAMD posted:Does this count as game industry? Sorry is this judge saying that by hitting A to continue, children can enter into contracts on behalf of their parents?
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Feb 6, 2023 07:28
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ColdPie posted:Y'all might enjoy a recently started podcast UNBOXING: Play & Profit for the Gaming Curious. It's by two professors at NYU who teach media history & business, looking at recent gaming news especially with a focus on the business side of things. It's really well produced. thank you for this, that's great.
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Feb 6, 2023 08:02
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RPATDO_LAMD posted:Does this count as game industry? Are there any joy-con actions taking place in other parts of the world?
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Feb 6, 2023 08:03
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RPATDO_LAMD posted:Does this count as game industry? lol so much for EULA's not being legally binding I guess?
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Feb 6, 2023 20:30
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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/...&smid=share-url Here's a gift article (I think that means you can read it without having a paid account?) about the latest from the proposed  deal for Activision. It's interesting to me that the UK might be harder on the deal to demonstrate their independence from the EU.
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Feb 6, 2023 22:26
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EULA’s have always been found to be legally binding when tested (everything else being equal) iirc - the only people who say otherwise are those who want to be able to ignore them.
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Feb 7, 2023 11:13
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Itzena posted:EULA’s have always been found to be legally binding when tested (everything else being equal) iirc - the only people who say otherwise are those who want to be able to ignore them. I don't think it would be binding for a minor. It's a sort of weird case since they can't enter into contracts. Not a lawyer though.
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Feb 7, 2023 14:25
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leper khan posted:I don't think it would be binding for a minor. It's a sort of weird case since they can't enter into contracts. Not a lawyer though. quote:Despite attempts to argue that underaged children - who used the handheld system - cannot enter into the agreement, the federal judge ultimately ruled that the agreement was with the "de facto owners", the parents, and not the children who actually used the console. Shifting the burden to the parents is such a classic american thing to do. But also EULAs suck and so does legal arbitration.
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Feb 7, 2023 17:24
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https://twitter.com/josephfcox/status/1622961736600137733?s=61&t=rRbp51vPxf_XuKp0zSBnnA I was listening to a podcast a few weeks ago where this came up as a more general discussion about how VO can be harmed by AI and I’m really bummed that devs are already using that stuff and trying to force voice actors into onerous contracts. There’s no way anyone with union representation is gonna be allowed to do this, especially SAG members, so what this is gonna do is increase the amount game devs prey on new actors or worse, people already working at the studio and become able to own peoples voices.
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Feb 7, 2023 23:54
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DC Murderverse posted:https://twitter.com/josephfcox/status/1622961736600137733?s=61&t=rRbp51vPxf_XuKp0zSBnnA If this leads to a resurgence of PS1-era, Resident Evil-like voice acting from amateurs, I’ll take it.
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Feb 8, 2023 03:18
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What that makes me think of is how graphical prettiness was prioritized over frame rate for a while, because people talked about graphics but not frame rate. And then they started cutting things down to 30 or less, and found out the hard way that nobody was talking about the frame rate because people just kind of took it for granted and assumed it would be smooth, so when it stopped being smooth, people noticed very quickly. I think that voice acting is going to be the same thing, where we got too used to anything being any good at all and it's back to the days of "dogs of the AMS" tier acting. 
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Feb 8, 2023 04:06
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bloodysabbath posted:If this leads to a resurgence of PS1-era, Resident Evil-like voice acting from amateurs, I’ll take it. What do you mean by this? The only way this development could lead to the resurgence of non-professional quality voice acting is maaaybe companies hiring non-union amateurs as scabs because the unions refuse to enter into contracts that allow the company can use AI to exploit workers, which would be a terrible development for everyone involved.
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Feb 8, 2023 05:32
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Kanos posted:What do you mean by this? The only way this development could lead to the resurgence of non-professional quality voice acting is maaaybe companies hiring non-union amateurs as scabs because the unions refuse to enter into contracts that allow the company can use AI to exploit workers, which would be a terrible development for everyone involved. Less "hiring non-union amateurs" and more "getting non-voice-actors working other roles on the game to fill in instead of hiring VAs". Let's be real ... if you're excited to work twelve hour days as a junior dev because it's videogames, you're gonna be even more ecstatic to get your voice in the game regardless of how objectively lovely the contract is.
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Feb 8, 2023 07:11
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"mild speculation"
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Feb 8, 2023 07:24
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The BBC did some reporting on AI radio-broadcasting last year. The jist of it was (at least with the contracts they were discussing) that the VA/broadcaster would be paid a little bit for each time the AI based on their voice was used. It makes sense for some repetitive applications like weather forecasting. I'll try and see if I can look it up. It was pretty weird listening to the presenter happily musing about how he might just be paid a bit every time his voice was used. I don't know how the math works out but kinda sounded like a pay cut or at least a drop from having a fixed salary. E: That probably wouldn't be a good model for working on products with a definite finishing point like games. Unless it's one of the dozen live service games that have enough of a userbase to keep pumping out new content year after year. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 11:15 on Feb 8, 2023 |
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Feb 8, 2023 11:11
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drat, a game dev pal put up some examples of some AI voice actor thing they were testing out the other day. They were just using it for a laugh to read out an unhinged post by a mutual friend but I didn’t think at the time what the real ‘benefit’ to a studio could be, that sucks that VAs might end up in the same boat as visual artists from all this. As for the voice program thing, one sounded generic and bland af, though admittedly much better and more believable than OG Resi/HotD2 quality VA work. The other was surprisingly great and natural though, albeit it tripped up comprehending a couple things in places.
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Feb 8, 2023 11:48
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The CMA wants a divestment in the MS/ABK deal. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63e2589a8fa8f50e85820fb0/Microsoft-Activision_PFs_Summary_2.pdf
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Feb 8, 2023 13:20
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CottonWolf posted:The CMA wants a divestment in the MS/ABK deal. Or some behavioral remedy, but what that is is unclear and I think in their notes basically "the behavioral remedy we want is you divesting call of duty"
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Feb 8, 2023 13:43
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I assumed that the CMA calling for divestiture meant that the long-term access deal Microsoft offered wasn’t sufficient, but this part might indicate otherwise? Seems like a weird way to handle it tho. quote:57. During our investigation, Microsoft told us that it has offered to enter into new long-term agreements with Sony, Nintendo, and Steam to supply them with CoD post-Merger. Whether some form of supply or licensing agreement might satisfactorily remedy our concerns in gaming consoles is something that we will consider as part of our remedies process, rather than in our competitive assessment. If Microsoft foreclosing access to CoD is truly their main concern then just having some sort of enforceable agreement between Microsoft and other platforms seems like it should be a viable solution.
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Feb 8, 2023 13:45
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That or just dumping Acti. They still get Blizzard and more importantly King (which is what they said they really wanted).
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Feb 8, 2023 13:55
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I like how one of the proposed remedies is "divest call of duty" or "divest all of activision and blizzard" and Im struggling to understand how one of those is not a strictly more severe version of the other
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Feb 8, 2023 13:57
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It’s a practicality question, essentially giving Microsoft the ability to say, (for instance) CoD is too central to Acti for us to be able to cleanly separate it, so in order to divest CoD, we’re divesting Acti. Acti-Blizz is just the next level of that. Basically if they go the divestment route, MS will go for the lowest option they perceive as actually deliverable/sensible.
CottonWolf fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Feb 8, 2023 |
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Feb 8, 2023 14:03
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DC Murderverse posted:https://twitter.com/josephfcox/status/1622961736600137733?s=61&t=rRbp51vPxf_XuKp0zSBnnA This is interesting because i've heard that the era of voice acting everything resulted in a hit to the quality of RPGs because they have to finalise the dialogue much earlier than in the past. If this lets them make revisions to the dialogue after the VA has been recoded that would be cool.
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Feb 8, 2023 14:42
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February 2023: Graveyard of Live-Service Games, that you will never be able to play. regardless if you bought them or not. - Apex Legends Mobile - EA - Babylon's Fail - Squeenix - Battlefield Mobile - EA - Bravely Default - Brillant Lights - Squeenix - Crimesight - Konami (still available on stores to buy lol) - CrossfireX - Remedy - Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero’s Bonds - Squeenix - Echo VR - Meta - Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier - Squeenix - Chocobo GP - Squeenix - Stadia - Google - Knockout City - Velan Studios - Rumbleverse - Epic Games - Spelbreak - Proletariat RIP
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Feb 8, 2023 14:43
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DrZepam posted:February 2023: Graveyard of Live-Service Games, that you will never be able to play. regardless if you bought them or not. You're almost certainly missing a huge number of service games from mobile. And plausibly a significant number of PC games in Korea and Japan.
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Feb 8, 2023 16:03
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CJ posted:This is interesting because i've heard that the era of voice acting everything resulted in a hit to the quality of RPGs because they have to finalise the dialogue much earlier than in the past. If this lets them make revisions to the dialogue after the VA has been recoded that would be cool. One of my buddies was just bitching about this exact thing. He had to re-write a bunch of story to match dialog that had already been recorded.
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Feb 8, 2023 16:04
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leper khan posted:You're almost certainly missing a huge number of service games from mobile. And plausibly a significant number of PC games in Korea and Japan. Is there any reason so many games are disappearing this month? Some new law or a CDN shutting down or something?
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Feb 8, 2023 18:45
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