Latest news with #HorizonForbiddenWest
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Former PlayStation boss blames AAA "production costs" for $80 games, says titles with "tighter teams" like Clair Obscur could be the way forward
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Former Sony Interactive and PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida thinks the move toward $80 games was always inevitable. In the last few months, Nintendo shocked the internet by announcing that Mario Kart World would be its first modern game with a $80 price tag. Xbox wasted no time in jumping aboard and soon revealed that at least some of its new first-party games would also be $80 by the end of the year - hello, Call of Duty? So when Rockstar Games again showed off GTA 6 this week, and everyone saw its expensive-smelling, almost jaw-dropping graphics up close, questions were raised about how much it would cost, too. Surely, if there's any game that can get away with $80, it's the game with individually rendered arm hairs and realistically bubbling beer bottles? In an interview with PlayStationInside, Yoshida said he doesn't know "if Rockstar will jump at the chance" to charge $80, though those price hikes were "going to happen sooner or later." Yoshida's reasoning is one we've all heard politicians echo forever: "Inflation is real and significant, but people expect games that are ever more ambitious and therefore expensive to develop... it's an impossible equation." Of course, inflation is a real thing, but the problem is that wages haven't kept up, so we now have entire online campaigns begging Nintendo to "drop the price." Alongside inflation, Yoshida also points to the ever-ballooning budgets in AAA games these days, where projects such as Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part 2 can cost upwards of $200 million to make. "Everything in video games today is more advanced and more technologically demanding than ever before, and therefore requires more resources," he added. "In the end, the heart of the matter lies in production costs. And that's why industry actors are so keen to diversify their revenues, in order to continue producing the AAA games that the public buys before anything else." He says evermore frequent remasters and remakes are part of this move, as are games-as-a-service and subscription platforms. But, ultimately, what might help the industry is more games made with moderate budgets and teams, like the recently released Je'RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a turn-based $50 throwback that's sold over two million copies in two weeks. "The game is just as phenomenal visually, despite the fact that the team only has around thirty people," Yoshida said. "This is one of the ways forward, I think, because you can make excellent games with tighter teams and budgets without compromising quality." $80 Switch 2 and now Xbox games aren't a big shock, analyst says, and games haven't really been $70 for a while: "The average price people are paying ... is much higher" Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'I feel worried about this art form:' Unsurprisingly, the real Aloy from Horizon isn't a fan of AI Aloy
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Voice actor Ashly Burch, known for her role as Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, shared her response to a controversial AI tech demo of her character leaked last week and, unsurprisingly, it has her worried about the future of the gaming industry. Burch explained in a TikTok video, "Gorilla reached out to me to let me know that the demo didn't reflect anything that was actively in development. They didn't use any of my performance for the demo, so none of my facial or voice data." "All that said, I feel worried. And not worried about Gorilla specifically or Horizon or my performance or my career specifically, even. I feel worried about this art form, game performance as an art form." Burch's response comes amidst an ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike hinging on protections for actors from the use of AI to replace them in the gaming industry. SAG-AFTRA fought a similar battle in the film and TV industry back in 2023 alongside the Writers Guild of America. Now, video game voice and motion capture actors are also striking to protect their careers and the future of their industry from AI. Ashly Burch summed up the situation in her video, stating, "The technology isn't the problem, game companies wanting to use the technology isn't the problem. The problem is that we are currently on strike and the bargaining group [for the game studios] will not agree to give us common sense protections." The leaked AI tech demo of Aloy is a stark warning about what the future of the gaming industry could look like if voice and motion capture artists don't win their fight for AI protections. The clip of the tech demo has been removed from YouTube, but the footage was noticeably more cold and robotic than Burch's phenomenal performance as Aloy. It highlights all the nuance and heart we lose when the human element is taken out of game performances. Fans are unhappy about the tech demo as well. As one Horizon player commented on Reddit, "If they use this AI tech in the next game. I will not be buying it or playing it." Another user called fans to support Burch, commenting, "As fans of games like Horizon, we should support the PEOPLE working to improve our entertainment experiences. I'm all for technical advancement, like she said. But it can't replace people." While Burch reassured everyone in her video that her performance wasn't used to train the AI Aloy shown in the tech demo, she admitted that the risk of actors' performances being exploited or used without their permission for AI is very real. Best of the best 2025 games: Upcoming releasesBest PC games: All-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together "I feel worried not because the technology exists, not even because game companies want to use it. Of course they do, they always want to use technological advancements. I just imagine a video like this coming out that does have someone's performance attached to it," Burch explained. She added, "If we lose this fight, that person would have no recourse. They wouldn't have any protections, any way to fight back. And that possibility… It makes me so sad." Actors and gamers alike are right to be worried about the future of the gaming industry. Voice and motion capture actors have become the heart and soul of so many great games and are getting much more recognition today than they once did. Hopefully, game studios take notice of the response to the AI Aloy clip from Burch and Horizon fans. AI can be a helpful tool in gaming, but if it's used to take actors out of the equation, that's a loss for gamers and gaming as a powerful storytelling medium. As Ashly Burch put it, "I love this industry and this art form so much and I want there to be a new generation of actors. I want there to be so many more incredible game performances. [...] If we don't win, then that future is really compromised."
See - Sada Elbalad
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Sony Experiments AI-powered PlayStation Characters
It was reported on Tuesday that Sony is working on a prototype AI-powered version of one its PlayStation game characters. An internal video from Sony's PlayStation group with The Verge was leaked and it indicated an AI-powered version of Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West. The video was shortly removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim from Muso, a copyrights company which advertises Sony Interactive Entertainment. The video is narrated by Sharwin Raghoebardajal, a director of software engineering at Sony Interactive Entertainment who works on video game technology for Sony's PlayStation Studios Advanced Technology Group. The technology demo uses OpenAI's whisper for speech-to-text, and both GPT-4 and Llama 3 for conversations and decision making.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
An Internal PlayStation Tech Demo Has Leaked, Causing a Stir
An internal character tech demo has leaked, and it's already causing some restlessness among players. It's an unusual leak in that we rarely ever see in-development prototypes like these, but The Verge has somehow gotten its hands on a video that shows Sony dabbling into artificial intelligence for game development. Gifs from the video, which has since been hit by a copyright strike, can be found hosted on The Verge. Footage is also circulating on X. It shows an AI-powered version of Horizon franchise protagonist Aloy, who's talking to players and responding to queries with an AI-generated voice and facial movements as opposed to a real voiceover with motion capture. The Verge claims that the video also showed AI Aloy within the 'full Horizon Forbidden West game,' suggesting that the tech is pretty far advanced. 'This is just a glimpse of what is possible,' says SIE director of software engineering Sharwin Raghoebardajal in the video, leaving players concerned that Sony will be leaning into AI for character development in future games. It has long been argued that removing real voices and motion capture from characters kills personal touch and immersion, and puts the games industry at risk. Every forum that the video and its gifs are circulating on is full of players expressing concerns. What do our readers think? The post An Internal PlayStation Tech Demo Has Leaked, Causing a Stir appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sony tests AI-powered Playstation characters
Sony is testing AI-powered video game characters that can hold conversations with players in a similar way to chatbots like ChatGPT. A demo video, first reported by The Verge, showed an AI version of the character Aloy from the Playstation game Horizon Forbidden West conversing through voice prompts during gameplay on the PS5 console. The video, which was reportedly narrated by Sony Interactive Entertainment's director of software engineering Sharwin Raghoebardajal, has since been pulled from YouTube. The Independent has reached out to Sony for comment. The character uses technology developed by Meta and ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, allowing it to make decisions and converse in a non-scripted way. The character's facial expressions are also powered by Sony's advanced AI software Mockingbird, while the speech artificially replicates the voice of the actor Ashly Burch. There is no indication from the video that Sony is about to introduce AI-powered characters to its games, with Mr Raghoebardajal indicating that it is just a proof-of-concept at this stage. 'The demo which we ended up making is really just a quick, fun prototyping project to show what we can achieve,' he said. 'This is just a glimpse of what is possible'. The demo was done in a studio with specialist hardware, with Mr Raghoebardajal noting that consumer consoles do not currently have enough memory to run the AI-powered character. The video, which is still available on other streaming platforms, shows Raghoebardajal conversing with Aloy about her feelings and preferences. During gameplay, the character also offers insights into hostile creatures and the requirements for traversing the terrain safely. The use of generative AI in video games has faced push back from some developers, who fear that it may threaten jobs like script writing and voice acting within the gaming industry. In December, Playstation boss Hermen Hulst said in an interview that AI formed only a part of the company's future plans. 'I suspect there will be a dual demand in gaming: one for AI-driven innovative experiences and another for handcrafted, thoughtful content," he told the BBC. "Striking the right balance between leveraging AI and preserving the human touch will be crucial." Sign in to access your portfolio
