Amazon Games CEO Says "Games Don't Have Acting" - Gets Demolished

[@Nijonibi]

Amazon Gaming CEO: "Games Don't Have Acting" Me: "Well, maybe yours don't... and that would explain a few things."

[@markmatthews9102]

This

[@tagreenroyd]

How to say you don't understand video games without saying you don't understand video games.

[@sakurapablo671]

That’s like explaining how to fix a car, without even looking at what proper parts to buy and don’t know what to do next, from after taking the parts out.

[@Mediados]

"Games don't have acting." There is an industry-wide acknowledged award for acting in games.

[@chrizzlybearlol]

Whe said ‘we don’t have acting.’ That why KZbinrs are not journalists

[@MommahKat]

@@chrizzlybearlol You realize the COMMENTER not the youtuber made this comment right? Because in the actual video he talks about how he could have meant we as in the Amazon Games. So this just shows you 1) did not actually watch the video, 2) do not understand how youtube works (i.e. judging the youtuber's comment for a watcher's comment on the video) or 3) lack of reading comprehension

[@chrizzlybearlol]

@@MommahKat He used it in the title of the video, in the thumbnail in the video and talked the first minutes about it in the video. He pushed this interpretation while reading the sentence. This if framing and misleading. Who are you kidding but yourself. I’m not impressed by your argumentation.

[@chrizzlybearlol]

@@MommahKat like have YOU watched the video?

[@asweet93]

​@chrizzlybearlol 1:43 It infers the same sentiment as "games don't have acting" If games don't really have acting what do they have? He's implying it's not acting Yes it's not a direct quote but it isn't a statement taken out of context

[@N7.Tenebris]

"Games Don't Have Acting" is as ignorant as another CEO (I think EA?) who said no one plays single player games anymore. smh.

[@saamjaza1742]

"she's a ten but she plays single player games" is the quote you're looking for. Thanks EA.

[@blackshard641]

It's also ignorant on the same level as "games can't be art", "animation is for kids", or "superhero movies aren't cinema", which is to say, not only based on an embarrassingly narrow degree of familiarity, but grossly ignorant of where some of the most groundbreaking achievements have happened in entertainment over the last ten to twenty years. Heck, thirty years ago, Nobuo Uematsu wrote an opera scene and a full four-part symphony for a 16-bit chipset, which is still praised as the equivalent of "painting the Sistine Chapel with a box of crayons".

[@rosevalety3408]

"Really ? In front of my Hollow Knight ?"

[@chrizzlybearlol]

It says as games go WE don’t have acting. Where did he say games don’t have acting? Read again the statement is in the video. This is only one interpretation. What this could also mean is that they at Amazon Games studios Have no acting unit. Now what interpretation stirs the most uproar and gives KZbinrs more clicks?

[@Aria_Dragonneel]

I obsessively play single player games

[@WearyKnight99]

Bg3 has some of the best acting I've seen in a game in a long time there is no way Ai could ever replace that

[@AB-ez4rm]

The passion and sorrow in Karlach's voice after Gortash is defeated, and the agony of Astarion after Cazador goes down could only be human produced. Ai could never get that right.

[@valor144]

Agreed half of my favourite lines are from BG3 and without any offence to whoever wrote the dialogues its 90% voice acting

[@101Mant]

Forget games. It's good acting by any standards.

[@AB-ez4rm]

@@101Mant Even more so since voice acting can be tougher to do.

[@iamboringvideos6832]

Yet anyways

[@espresso574]

I feel like Baldurs Gate 3 had the impact it did primarily because of the quality and scale of the acting involved. The gameplay is fun, don't get me wrong, but the immersion/connection/choices between all of the characters is what really makes it feel so high quality. I feel like Amelia Tyler deserves more credit when talking about BG3 as well. The narrator role was excellently portrayed by her.

[@zarasha8220]

I just finished a durge run (resisted my urges on this one, will give in to my urges on the next durge playthrough) and there's a ton of unique narrator dialogue you won't hear unless you're playing a durge character. What's so interesting to me is that even the 'meaningless' NPC chatter, from vendors to random NPCs out in the world, even THAT voice acting is taken seriously and done well, it's not limited to the main story NPCs and bosses.

[@Jokervision744]

The game demands immersion. You can't play it willy-nilly. Well that has been my experience with the game now.

[@markussmedhus9717]

All the characters are complete asshats tho, in typical Larian fashion. Hardly makes the world worth saving.

[@choryllis6646]

The Narrator is a main character change my mind. Also I would absolutely buy audio books from her and fall asleep to her reading them.

[@kinman3051]

I loved her narration. Though, I mostly remember her tone for Durge's urges seeping in to his mind

[@Vet1Michael]

Not just Neil Newbon's Astarion, but Samantha Beart's Karlach when confronting Gortash & the aftermath....heart-breaking

[@ВладиславБулаев-л3э]

Especially the aftermath + the ending of the game

[@TheLalacream]

I have to take a second to prepare myself emotionally before talking to karlach (after killing gortash) because I always get teary-eyed from the conversation.

[@wolfbrother9025]

Just did that part split screen and instead of her talking to me who was with her she talked to my wife's Tav....was kinda pissed actually because I know I probably missed some different dialogue

[@iampain76]

@@ВладиславБулаев-л3э ive done several playthroughs and everytime i get super sad because she just has the worst life. sold into slavery experimented on, you get free and oh by the way you are going to turn into a mindflayer. oh also if your get cured of that you are going to die because of the experimentation done on you in the hells. you can live if you go back to the hells though. like jfc talk about EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!

[@dancingcarapace]

Honestly every single main companion gets their moment to shine, even Wyll, our poor content deprived king. Hell, even side companions get their own moments. Jaheira threatening to throw the astral prism into the sea if The Emperor doesn’t help Minsc, Halsin’s rage if Kahga killed Arabella, even Minsc’s rage at the party just before Jaheira gets him to realise he’d been following a changeling mimicking Jaheira.

[@Vaytra]

AI as an assistant to human directed activity is one thing... AI taking over human art is another thing. I don't have an issue with AI on its own, I have an issue with them pushing out real artists, script writers, designers, actors etc, and putting AI in like it's an acceptable substitute. AI cannot create anything new. It only learns from what is already out there, it's a recycler of ideas and strategies. It's not a substitute creator for human art. I saw a quote once "I don't want AI to do art, so I can have more time to do the dishes and laundry. I want AI to my dishes and laundry, so I can have more time to create art."

[@sullenskulls9709]

Agreed. And I think the localisation thing is a perfect example. You could have an AI translate work with minimal effort and cost, and then send that pre-translated version to a human to properly localise. In most cases (there will always be specific exceptions), this would result in cost/time-based savings that would benefit the companies, whilst still providing employment opportunities for those with that skillset, and simultaneously improve the accessibility of games to wider audiences, as it would be easier to provide for more languages in the industry as a whole. I'm sure people with more experience and knowledge than me could better explain the nuance and minutia of when/where my example is correct or falls short, but it's probably not far off. AI has the potential to be hugely beneficial to society as a whole, but whilst its only being used to cut the costs for corporations, it has the potential to harm society irreparably.

[@tonypiz]

I'm a professional translator who works in videogame localization, and based on my personal experience that's not how it goes. The only time me and my team had to work on machine translated tex it resulted in more work than translating everything from scratch. AI doesn't often get context, tends to mistake gender and number and has no idea of internal consinstency or style, which are both very important in this work. As everything regarding big companies and AI it's just a way to pay people less.

[@lincolngravemann682]

Yes keep AI as a tool not a replacement for people.Edit but it's easy for big companies to do that when they treat people like tools

[@georgehouliaras7239]

What a primitive. Throw him out of the airlock, Commander. Our Cycle had the best actors. Even the machines sound excellent, despite the fact that they turned my people into soulless bugs.

[@tepigninja7198]

With pleasure, Javik!

[@rosevalety3408]

@@tepigninja7198 Watching the Amazon Games CEO float in space Among Us style :

[@matthewlaw6556]

The fact I read the whole thing in Javik’s voice only proves the impression good acting in gaming can provide

[@deusexmachinareznov4975]

Very well, Javik.

[@eliasvernieri]

Amazon got really really out of touch with reality

[@sakurapablo671]

Definitely. When the last time they gotten out of the office and gone to a gaming convention or an actual convention of any time for anime related that voice actors explained it’s their job to do what AI couldn’t do. That’s expressing in some ways and also having actual translation from with emotional way.

[@ryttu3k]

Honestly think part of the reason why BG3 was so incredibly successful was SPECIFICALLY because of the cast. Their scenes are heartwrenching, heartwarming, hilarious, sometimes terrifying; they portray all facets of their characters in every path they take (just look at the difference in body language and line delivery for Astarion's two paths, for instance, or Shadowheart's) and in every aspect, voice, body, and expression. The game would be a pale shadow of itself without such amazing performances. This guy is just fooling himself.

[@jojy1st]

And dont forgwt the majority of all mocap is done by neil newborn

[@mastery7901]

This is a key problem with the modern gaming industry. The top management are more into business than having an actual passion for gaming. And the result of that is silly statements such as the CEO's which are completely out of sync with the gaming community.

[@LoveThyMonster]

thankfully, we have Larian Studios.

[@starlightthewolf6612]

Not just out of sync with the gaming community, but out of sync with reality

[@ArtemisTGM]

This just shows how out of touch Amazon really is..their movies/lotr and marketing

[@JulianaBlewett]

I really enjoyed Rings of Power. Ceos are not the smartest people in the room. They're there to make the company money. They're not there to make people happy. They're not there to make customers happy. Which is why people get pissed at them and strike and boycott. Eventually they learn for a little while and then they forget and do the same s*** all over again.

[@havtor007]

​@@JulianaBlewettReally happy for you being able to find rings of power fun. For the cost and the lore involved it fully destroy what JRR tolkien wrote one hundred percentage. But happy someone is able to find it enjoyable.

[@st0ox]

You might even say, Amazon TV productions don't have acting.

[@Kelleeart]

🤣🤣 so true!

[@mantasjoniskis]

ouch🤣

[@cozmothemagician7243]

Good Oemens has some world class acting, not to mention being based on and faithful to world class source material. So, SOMEBODY at Amazon understands what acting is all about...

[@ondrejvasak1054]

"Majority of the team sits in programming..." Does he actually think that majority of people in Holywood production, for example, are actors? It the same, most people work behind the scenes.

[@hungbuiart]

Corpo Suits need to stay out of the gaming industry lol they don’t play video games. They play Monopoly

[@eesamees]

couldn’t have said it better tbh

[@deadeyedarwin]

Apparently Arthur Morgan made me cry for no reason.

[@nuts3383]

That guy made me cry 30 times

[@catandrobbyflores]

Must have dust in my eyes when my horse died. A really big dust speck...

[@xTunafishx]

"I guess I, uhh.... Im afraid...."

[@DeusNyx]

I still shed a tear when Geralt finds his daughter in the Draves hut.😭😭😭 The acting and cinematography blew my mind.

[@Emma-se5wm]

and the music! shattering!!!!

[@Negentropy369]

I've played it like... 6 or 7 times maybe, and I still shed several tears every time. Along with the tower scene at the end, and Vesimir. As a book reader I think I shed a happy tear or two when Regis first showed up in B&W, lol.

[@MiddieTheFish]

“Not gonna age well” is an understatement. By the time he hit send, the man had turned several vineyards into vinegar.

[@lixnix2018]

VA and Motion Tracking is so important and makes things far better

[@edwardwestmoreland-caunter6128]

Irony is that AI can't even do the basic "boring" code stuff, because it then needs coders to go back and correct the gibberish it spews out and make it work, which takes 3 times as long as it would have done to just have people do it from the beginning. AI is just a moron's tool for cutting corners, invented by people who hate how those with actual skills and talent make them feel insecure, but are too lazy to actually learn those skills themselves. Studios will use AI to replace whoever they can, even if the end result is bad, because all they care about is reducing upfront costs, and giving as much money as possible to their upper management and shareholders, 99% or whom have never played a game in their lives. They see paying a workforce as a waste of money and the more people they can lay off, the better, in their opinion.

[@MrShadowfax42]

"AI is just a moron's tool for cutting corners, invented by people who hate how those with actual skills and talent make them feel insecure, but are too lazy to actually learn those skills themselves." - what an incredibly ignorant take.

[@spugelo359]

Try go and beat an AI at chess and do tell me how moronic it is compared to you.

[@eesamees]

@@MrShadowfax42perhaps the people who *program* AI aren’t insecure and lack talent, but it enables those people to abuse AI

[@Kratosx23]

That pretty much tells you that you can write off anything made by Amazon Games.

[@Wagonman-h1k]

What do they make? I've never even heard of them or any games made by Amazon.

[@jackbordar2727]

@@Wagonman-h1k New World is the only game I know of

[@madelinerodgers9072]

Imagine hearing Ben Starr’s performance in FF16 and think ‘yea AI could do that just as good’

[@gabrielledickinson4530]

Or Javick in ME3. Imagine thinking an AI could have done the "ask the dead if honor matters" line better.

[@rilwena]

as a translator/ localisation specialist - thank you. so many people (especially from English speaking countries) dismiss our job as redundant. translating is often the first example of “things that AI will kill”. for the love of stories, let us hope it isn’t. thanks again for believing in humans doing their jobs, be it acting, writing or localising

[@cayreet5992]

Given the kind of 'automated translation' we've gotten for ages when it comes to manuals, the last thing I want is AI translation/localisation of story content.

[@Jokervision744]

I don't think that is what people say, but are going to use it if the translations fail next to flat AI takes. Maybe AI learns the nuances, after someone dares to see it through... Sure I'm for having it in human hands.

[@rogerwilco2]

Indeed. Too many people have no clue how hard it is to translate especially creative works. Try translating a play on words, a poem or a song. Or some kind of proverb. Everyone should learn at least one second language.

[@Xeno426]

Just learning a foreign language tends to be enough to put paid to such thoughts. The complexity of meaning and context, and figuring out how to portray that to an audience that doesn't necessarily have all the same cultural cues, is hard enough. Doing so in a manner that either preserves the prose or at least conveys it in prose that is pleasant to read (as opposed to dry) is even more difficult.

[@jackbordar2727]

the thing is most people, me included, rather take a bad translation from AI than a purposfuly wrong translation from a political translator.

[@thecheck968]

Fun fact: Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't have any acting. Larian is so dedicated to quality that they actually dropped a building on Neil Newbon to record his genuine reaction. Every situation present in the game was played out in a similar way, including ritualistic sacrifices to the god of murder and giving each actor in the main cast actual brain worms. It's more believable than getting those same performances from AI, at least.

[@eesamees]

LOL

[@eesamees]

they actually focused the full concentrated power of the sun on Neil then resurrected him to get his reaction it’s true i was the monastery

[@iRxD32]

Karlach's ending had me sobbing

[@messire9837]

Really? Ultima VII - Serpent Isle had me sobbing... Well, it crushed me, as a matter of act.

[@ВладиславБулаев-л3э]

Same, even though she survived

[@ChaoticUrges]

Went for her bad endings?

[@iRxD32]

@@ChaoticUrges tried every ending

[@wolfbrother9025]

I've only seen one of the endings where she lives and I'm gonna see it again this time because last run I didn't have her romanced. Also this time I am the Blade of Avernus so maybe that will change a few things as well

[@kevlonk]

The entire BG3 cast Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson as Joel and Ellie Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker Ellen McClain as GlaDOS Christopher Judge as Kratos Michael Shapiro as the G-,Man Anna Demetriou and Harry Myers as the siblings in Plague Tail The Narrator in DIsco Elysium Keith David and Lance Reddick in every game role they've ever voiced Matthew Mercer, Jennifer Hale, Mark Meer, Nolan North, Tara Strong, Laura Bailey, Grey DeLisle, Joe DiMaggio, Jim Cummings and Ashley Burch in too many goddam roles to name. And I'm not even going to GET INTO the actors who have not only done voice work, but also mocap for their characters. But no, clearly video games don't use actors.

[@100_American_Bison]

What is real funny is that with how things are going in the current movie industry. That actors, producers, and directors may have to look at the gaming industry for their next move and plenty of them have mocked it before. It might not be long before we see Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, or Chris Hemworth picking up acting rolls in games after the gaming industry has gotten bigger than Hollywood at this point.

[@vh1077]

The voice acting AND acting in BG3 ist so good that it gives me more emotions than lots of movies from hollywood. So yeah, we have acting.

[@HarukoZ001]

Samantha Beart's performance in Karlach's monologue after we finished with Gortash was some of the best acting ever. There is so much high quality acting in video games nowadays, so that fellow's comment just shows how out of touch he is with quality games and only solidifies my resolve to avoid Amazon games entirely.

[@Old_l3g0]

I like how CEO’s trying to pose and convince people that they know everything

[@awesomedinosaur3033]

also, let's not forget that Larian studios literally hired a specialist in kung fu (who learned for 15 years, just to go to china AND LEARN ANOTHER BRANCH OF IT FOR LARIAN) so he can act out the perfect movements for the monk class. This is also acting. And he did phenomanally. ((Also, also - it's called voice "acting", literally part of the acting business.)

[@bluemoon1716]

Amazon doesn't have any acting in most of their shows either

[@nunocorreia671]

How is someone like that in charge of gaming in amazon?

[@grallonsphere271]

For the same reason the rings of Prime directors are in charge for that project...

[@Charles_Bro-son]

To be fair, Amazon shows don't have any acting either.

[@Jokervision744]

They are approaching to saying that we don't need actors or acting.

[@beccangavin]

AI can probably do localization…but it will suck. It’s harder to translate what a sentence means than it is to translate what a sentence says.

[@MalkuthSephira]

this 100%. actual human translators struggle with that already, the last thing we need is for it to start becoming industry standard to outsource it to chatgpt

[@olocippicolo]

Troy Baker as Joel from Tlou, Roger Clark as Arthur in Rdr2, Neil Newbon as Astarion in BG3, Doug Cockle as Geralt in The Witcher games, Ashley Johnson as Ellie in Tlou, Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu in RE8,... There's no way AI can replace all of that. Why some people (seems to be ceos and such) can't understand that "less is more" with ai? We don't need it everywhere, especially if it harms the jobs of talented artists.

[@GiantTalkingTree]

Amazon needs to stick to shipping boxes and get the hell out of the entertainment industry.

[@virginiamurr3703]

I honestly think the demeaning of video game acting was strategic. Purposeful. Get the talking point out that it's "not acting" -- let it seed the ground. They *want* to make full-AI games. (They hate unions; they want the cheapest labor possible--even if that sacrifices quality *and* jobs). These guys are trying to tell people what to want. I'm really happy to see this jerk getting so much pushback. Hopefully, they'll get the point that there's a line they shouldn't cross with AI.

[@slimpsycho8455]

Given her known stance on Ai taking jobs I bet Kala has… words about this.

[@GaidalKain]

Queue Kala vid in 3...2...1

[@harrykim8060]

It says a lot about Amazons attitude towards it's gaming arm, "hey look the Video Games market is worth billions, we want a slice of that" and they proceed to make Amazon Games with people who clearly have no idea about games in management positions with the only goal of being "we want a slice of that"

[@desotodavill7740]

I don't want AI translations in my media, not in books, nor movies, nor games. I just watched a nickelodeon children series and a character said "translation is not only about translating but also interpretation" Idk but ya, sometimes there are better ways to translate something than the most obvious translation, which an ai would always choose. And hell, acting is very important in movies and games alike. I bought one game which appeared to have a bad dub...I have only played the first minutes and never touched it again...

[@rogerwilco2]

Translating well is very hard. You need to know both languages to a very high level. Try translating a play on words, a poem, a song, a proverb. Especially creative works are hard to translate, but even a very simple manual can be a challenge, just look at the many examples from China.

[@easternlights3155]

I truly don't get it. Even just BioWare games are filled to bursting with amazing performances. I know there are already lots of examples in this comment section, but I dare this CEO to listen to Simon Templeman's "Hush, Anora. It's over. Daughters never grow up. They remain six years old with skinned knees forever." in DAO. To Alix Wilton Regan's "I loved you! Did you really think I wouldn't have understood?" in DAI. Bertie Carvel's entire performance as Cipher 9 in SWTOR. Jennifer Hale in literally everything.

[@victorapellegrinosc]

The following games would like to have a word with the Amazon CEO Red Dead redemption 2 Baldur's gate 3 Ghost of tsushima Spider man Uncharted Fall out The last of us

[@paperomo]

i have a feeling he comes from the generation of video games that were like pong or something LOL

[@farrex0]

Well, he is a CEO it is common for them to be extremely ignorant on what they are a CEO of. A common trend is that the higher up you go in the commanding chain, the more oblivious they are of the product their company makes.

[@MalkuthSephira]

yep. it's almost like maybe there's something fundamentally wrong with a system where we unilaterally leave important decisions up to whoever in the building is least qualified to make them

[@crystalthunderheart8895]

Tomb raider? In development? WITHOUT acting!?!?!

[@justyce_yt]

I'm hoping things will get better by the time I go searching for a job in the industry. Getting a game dev job in the U.S seems... honestly terrifying.

[@Kadir-fw7xm]

He really said that. That really just happened The... AMAZON GAMES CEO... says .. Games dont have acting that really happened? So thats why Amazon Games is the most successful gaming studio in the industry. It makes so much sense :) !!!

[@Flippohoyyy]

Something that makes me Love Bg3 even more is the leadership and knowing that not only do they make fantastic titles but at the same time listen to and treat their devs and everyone involved in their games with respect and decency. Leadership like Swen is the embodiment of good leadership that not only developers want but gamers too.

[@rogerwilco2]

Larian is the only studio I will buy games on pre-order from. I bought the early access of BG3 back in 2020.

[@mihmo2663]

I have a feeling that the Unqualified are a problem in many studios.

[@Saje3D]

Arthur Morgan has entered the chat. And he looks pissed.

[@siru4334]

I'm doing my university master's thesis on video game narratives (and also playing video games on my free time) and I have to say, voice acting really is an important part of how we experience games. Not to mention also how motion capture also can be used extreamly well. I'm glad that you brought up Baldur's Gate 3. I absolutely love the game and have a huge respect for the team behind it!

[@Athairne]

Mordin's farewell cracked my chest wide open. I had tears running down my face watching it.

[@VBandit47]

0:11 "recent use of AI in video games." No, we're seeing the use of GENERATIVE AI in video games. Video games have had "AI" for literally as long as they've existed. You have to distinguish between the two so you don't muddle the concept.

[@csb78nm]

He left off part of the sentence "Games don't have acting ... as good as the acting we CEOs do."

[@sanichuuu]

Amazon Gaming CEO: "Games Don't Have Acting." Meanwhile I still breakdown into tears at the sight of Lucina sobbing in Chrom's arms when he realizes "Marth" is Lucina from the future and Chrom goes "You deserve better from me than one sword and a world of troubles. I'm so sorry." If you've ever played Fire Emblem Awakening, you'd probably know that is one of the most gut wrenching cutscenes in game.

[@LandofBrickForests]

That's a weird thing to say, especially when the actors themselves know and consider the performances they do for videogames as acting.

[@TeroTheShortOne]

No acting? Then why TF are some of the biggest awards for games given at the BAFTAs?

[@PinkMarshmallows]

Yeah, Amazon gaming shouldn't really talk. I've tried Lost Ark, and it was okay when it came out (only okay because of the censorship), but by the next month almost all of the "players" were bots, and Amazon did almost next to nothing to take care of it. So, the game pretty much ded off.

[@bluecat3338]

So obvs the whole acting thing is *waves hands around in frustration over the stupidity* but translation being left to AI is just so dumb as a concept? Accurately conveying a concept from one language in another language is such an art form. Even assuming AI is able to get all the grammar correct and you don’t end up with another “all your base are belong to us” situation, you can still fully miss the meaning by choosing words that mean the same thing but have the wrong connotations. My favorite example of two phrases where all the words mean the same thing but the connotations are wildly different is: “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned” versus “Sorry, Daddy, I’ve been naughty.” This is not something you want to mix up.

[@blackshard641]

7:32 This wound will never heal. It will remain with him his entire life.

[@Hollocska111]

Good to hear your opinions and honest reactions on news and events like this. Keep it up, keep us updated!

[@bigcrazewolf]

Good games do and always have, but what do I know I've only been playing games since the early 80's.

[@thess25]

4:58 *Legion Disapproves*

[@nickkeyes27]

It’s crazy that someone would think that there isn’t acting in video games! Some of the most memorable characters and acting that I’ve heard/seen have been from video games.

[@DarthDaddy-cg6ro]

Yet another reason not to give Amazon any money.

[@kannbrown65]

AI suck at making sure a sentence conveys what it is supposed to and makes sense in the NATIVE language of the programmers. I can't imagine how bad it would be in other languages and cultures.

[@lordaizen8004]

Turns out that Game Science, studio behind Black Myth: Wukong, are all friends from high school. They have stuck together and worked on something they were passionate about, and the results are UNDENIABLE. Major corporations and studios need to take the example that Larian and Game Science have SO obviously laid out for everyone to see

[@edwardwestmoreland-caunter6128]

What you said about game CEO's being business savvy, I would argue that the current ones aren't. With notable exceptions like Larian, Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studios, etc, so many of the major studios are tanking in value, hemorrhaging players, and IPs that should be guaranteed successes are crashing and burning, same in film, TV and streaming services. The dominant business model in the entertainment industry right now seems to be one of managers undermining their own studios, ignoring and even insulting every fan base they interact with, sacking anyone of any talent or credibility, and creating failure after failure after failure before selling what little remains of the once beloved studio to someone else, who then breaks it down for parts, sacks whoever's left and just sits on the IPs with no idea what to do with them. They're not business savvy, unless the business is a wrecking crew

[@mitsurugi667]

I have to say as someone who went to college to try to get into the game industry that seeing how the game industry has gone in recent years really disappoints me. With companies just putting out games full of bugs and poor optimization to what this CEO said, it really makes me miss the 90s and early 2000s. I mean sure that have been still some incredible games since then like Baldur's Gate 3, but... I feel like back then devs put more work into the game and put their hearts and souls into the games. They actually did a great job of getting the bugs out of the game and really made games as a labor of love. Now it seems like they've grown lazy with finding ways to just hastily make something to get money out of gamers, such as not dealing with bugs before release and just sending out day 1 patches or not even fixing the bugs. What the CEO of Amazon is really crazy, cause acting is a big part of games after all games are trying to bring life to fictional characters and you need acting for that. I really feel like Amazon should have just stick to shipping packages and streaming and to stay away from making games cause clearly the ones running Amazon don't know a thing about making games. I feel like with how a lot of big game devs are treating games now; it's no wonder a lot of people stick to playing older games cause they actually feel like good games and not money grabs like with a lot of games lately. I just want to add about the thing about localization. Yes, I much prefer a human doing it than AI, but with how some western localizers have been localizing games from eastern countries like Japan such as insert their own agendas into the dialogue or changing the words around to fit their narrative. It has left a bad taste in a lot of gamers mouths and make people like me feel like AI would do better as it would be more likely to stick to the original dialogue and not try to change it. In other words, human localizers are better than AI, so long as they stick to faithfully translating the original dialogue and not changing it for their own purposes. Anyways, I'm sorry this post was so long, but I'm really passionate when it comes to games and game development as I really had want to get into the game industry, but with seeing how it's going makes me angry, sad and disappointed. It makes me feel like maybe that it's no longer worth entering the game industry if companies are going to keep treating games so poorly. Thankfully there are still a few game companies that treat games well like Larian Studios and bunch of indie game devs, but a lot of the big name AAA companies have really gone down hill.

[@Biggiecheese20]

I hear you brutha/sista, the majority feel your sentiment ❤

[@littleauk6623]

"Games don't have acting" Then, please, explain wtf there's categories for them in the Game Awards.. 🤔 That man doesn't play games. You can't convince me otherwise. 😑

[@souliris]

There are a ton of games with better writing and acting than most Hollywood movies, but suuure.

[@okayolek]

localization is about finding phrases/word equivalents in other languages or (if that's impossible) looking for sencences/words that evoke the same/similar emotions in the language you're translating to. translation is more or less word for word. with localizing you must show off your creativity. i wrote my thesis on the witcher translations so this is absolutely my field of interest. seeing people cutting corners by using ai to do all the translation (it will never do a good job at localizing) is heartbreaking to me and their texts are 95% of the time nonsense or are so literal that they are boring to read.

[@raphaelw8s4u]

AI makes boring repetitive jobs go away.. that's still work for some people. And those will be jobless. Don't underestimated the range of jobs "ai" will take away from us. But hey, that is just what businesses calls job-evolution.

[@whensomethingcriesagain]

The only way you can make that acceptable is if you decouple work and jobs from being able to survive. You know, if you end capitalism basically. And that's just for the "boring stuff", generative AI replacing artists will NEVER be okay

[@LunarEssence315]

3:15 hollywood cant hold a candle to some of the performances in games

[@dacksonflux]

I guess we're just going to pretend Matt Mercer doesn't have a career because video games have a lot of VA overlap with television and movies. If video games don't have acting, then voice acting in general just isn't real acting. 🤷‍♂️

[@thirdcoastfirebird]

This man is just insane. I would also like to apologise for my last post on your channel. There was a typo I didn't catch. Again, I apologise.

[@MrHulthen]

Huh? Didn't notice anything so no apologies needed xD

[@thirdcoastfirebird]

@@MrHulthen , I felt I needed to say that. Thank you.

[@vee6961]

To me localisation is even more than that. It means making sure that the translation hits right in the given context - that a joke lands in the context of humor specific to the culture, that a saying is used that makes sense and is familiar to people etc, instead of just translating something.

[@ben-taobeneton3945]

I love all the voice actors who do their job. They have my utmost respect in working this very competitive field and that's why they are amazing! Also it's a form of art, and a not so easy playing field as it may look. People may shit on it, not knowing how difficult it actually is. I hope AI won't take over their works. I believe it can't because Ai can't portray the emotions and voice of the soul to be projected in a way that would make it believable.

[@elysionlivingdream5709]

1:40😂😂😂 Yes, exactly the Perfect reaction to a Perfect example of blatant lie and hypocritical model. And yes, this is absolutely a great kind of video that you should definitely post if you feel the need to, and you're prepared for, as in this case. You talked about not losing generational knowledge, and you're absolutely right! Finally I've heard someone saying this on the internet in a mass of tr@sh spitting over the past for agenda reasons environment that i cannot see the end to it (it's in video games, it's in tv series, it's in movies, it's in books, it's in so many people's speech that I'm literally used to start crying for absolute sadness for this and other things at the end of the day before going to sleep and starting a new one) That's absolutely commendable to preserve historical wisdom, traditions and knowledge. The past is the only vessel to stand now, and move forward, and you can see what that respectfulness over that Absolutely huge Library leads if you search for it. Now, you made an example with the Larian Studio, and I'm pleased to hear about the recognition of important values there, but let's be clear, over the honeymoon many have had with BG3, it's not the one in a decade or more of a game many say it is. I still need to check on the new update, (and I enjoyed this entry enough, and way more than many other attempts of the gaming industry these past years) but as of an unblinded perception of it by whatever reason has been pulled off out in medias, there are certainly good things with it, but a lot of issues that no update can possibly resolve (at least with what concerns the "vanilla" game, the finished, complete experience the Authors made by themselves. Mods, are a complete different story when added in, but those are the efforts of the community all together with the development team, not the Authors of the game. I'm just talking about the writing here, in fact, the acting is good, but you can't possibly tell the plot is a masterpiece, come on...a 15 year old kid made of his book a classic of literature and cinematography in manies childhood that is scores times deeper than this writing, even if he was heavily relying on other Books and Sources. I'm talking about Eragon. I hope someone remembers it. Other than the book, and a movie in 2006, there was also a videogame of it released on Playstation 2. So, about writing, yeah, I'm surely not the only one seeing this, but at least, and that's what i wanted to say with this digression, it seems that someone still care about Good Values, Artistical Improvement (not artificial intelligence)and so on over this huge struggle against a system only caring about business. This, the Passion, and the shared interest in making something great that will make the audience feel gratified for the time spent, is what makes, in this case, a Gaming Studio, worthy of prices and applauses. A Satisfied customer is one that has been treated well, and a returning one.

[@einindividuum5428]

Thank you so much for making clear translation is not just converting words into another language but there is so much more to it. I am tired of explaining to people that you can (at the moment) not just throw text into a program and have a good localisation.

[@thesaltygamer1204]

Say you're unqualified for a position without saying you're unqualified for a position

[@SinisterSlay1]

I hate the divide on AI. As a programming tool it is absolutely amazing. But it can't and shouldn't replace real artists. I have zero issue with a programmer that needs an example prop in a game asking an AI to do it. Or making a mockup of some feature using AI. But it shouldn't go into the finished product. And AI's helping write code is actually really good. A dumb company will cut jobs because of AI. A smart company will realise AI let them improve their workforce by 50% with almost no extra cost and no increase in headcount.

[@noonenowhere877]

I feel like that was just wishful thinking on the CEO’s part cause they don’t want to pay anyone to act or direct.

[@Mshari-the-grey-warden]

Does he know about Red dead redemption 2?

[@Momo_Minomo]

He really said this JUST AFTER Still Wakes The Deep released?! That game is an amazing interactive cinematic masterpiece with some of the best voice acting performances I've EVER heard. And then there are games that have become classics because of the amazing character performances! Mass Effect Trilogy, The Last of Us, Batman Arkham games, Alan Wake, Tomb Raider, God of War, the Fatal Frame series, Portal duology, etc. You even have phenomenal indies like Bastion, Stanley Parable, Firewatch, What Remains of Edith Finch, etc. How out of touch can one company be!?

[@quintyss1290]

1:40 *Spews coffee* Holey moley, Papa NSven, that's as ridiculous as saying you only have 3 chest hairs and not worth watching!

[@Sgtcortez1337]

CEOs are the most out of touch people on this planet

[@allknowingfreddybear9291]

Tell that shit to Mass Effect or Detroit become Human. Tell me those games don’t have acting!

[@Yoonji9212]

As someone who plays games for the story, if a game would have AI instead voice actors I would be faaaaaar from buying that shit.

[@Draconiangem]

They really should stay in their lane and stick to store delivery services... eesh.

[@shadowstark]

Why does the games industry have so many CEOs that don't know anything about games?

[@markusturunen7929]

As a game maker, I can see that some games don't have acting, but great games have acting. And the best games have good acting and performance rivaling Hollywood and cinema.

[@LightShadowOnyx]

you know what games that has great voice acting fire emblem three houses tara platt as edelgard, chris hackney as dimitri, cherami leigh as rhea/seiros, billey kametz as ferdinand rip, kirsten day as constance. Both kirsten and chris can switch personalities while acting for their characters. How about in mass effect with ash sroka as tali which was her first video game role then hear her as tali and her scene with her dead father and tell me that is not VA. Not to mention mark meer and jennifer hale as shepard, or brandon keener as garrus. How about steve valentine as allistair during the landsmeet or how about simon templeman as lohghain. I want amazon to listen to their characters and say video games has no voice acting

[@1vandread]

Alistair from DA:O and Garrus from ME disagree.

[@wheelysteve]

Voice actors are MASSIVELY important for games and their appeal. Modern example, Dead Rising isn't even a game where you play it for the story, at least not primarily, but even in that I find myself put off by Frank West's new voice, it just feels off. Games where the story and characters are a much bigger part of the appeal, bad voice acting can completely ruin it.

[@ellie_vargr]

The reason that the quality of AAA games have been declining in quality for the past decade is specifically BECAUSE of CEOs like this guy. If you're not a gamer, you shouldn't be allowed to lead a game developer. End of convo.

[@John_Raiyder]

3:36 I love that this comes from a Guy with an Invincible Profile Picture... The Show produced by Amazon. Hes still right tho

[@Vecna]

Been playing Baldur's Gate 3 for a while now, I'm a casual gamer, so I don't really play a lot, but the voice acting, the motion capture, all the microexpressions you see in characters, and yes, that part with Astarion (Or that dialog with Karlach after a thing in Wyrm's Crossing) is just... Wow. The Voice ACTORS really knocked it out of the park. Bonus point: Cyberpunk 2077, play as female V, and get to the part when she says "See you in the major leagues, Jackie", the emotion, the stress, the heartbreak, and the breakdown from Cherami Leigh are palpable. To say that games don't really have acting is not only ignorant, it's offensive to voice actors and motion capture professionals as well.

[@MoglinTheGremwai]

I take nothing seriously from the person that thought Rings of Power was a good idea 😂

[@kinman3051]

That thumbnail... I was watching a video that had Astarion do that pose but also the audio from the title screen played. He went: AAUUGHHAH