Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That's why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is at the very real and cool Goonhammer newsdesk with the scoop.
Arc Raiders Development Team Replaces AI Generated Voice Lines with Real Actors
Launching last year, Arc Raiders found quick success on Steam and drew widespread critical praise for its tight and engaging gameplay alongside its retrofuture aesthetics. A sticking point for many reviewers and players, however, was the voice acting in the game, which was generated via AI. Embark Studios, the team behind Arc Raiders, used AI voice acting in their previous release, The Finals, which also found a dedicated community despite the criticism over the AI generated voices.
Rather than continue to double down on AI voices however, Embark has relented to pressure and begun the process of replacing the AI generated voices.
"We re-recorded some of the lines post-launch and made them with real voices," Patrick Söderlund, CEO of Embark Studios, told Gamesindustry.biz in an interview. “"There is a quality difference. A real professional actor is better than AI; that's just how it is.”
Söderlund expands on the studio's current outlook on AI usage in game development, saying, “We look at [AI] first and foremost as a production tool. We can test things internally. We can test 15 different lines without recording them, and then we know what to record. It's also a way for us to work, not replace actors. We don't necessarily believe in replacing humans with AI all the time."
It’s a real victory for the voice acting industry, whose concerns about voice actors being replaced by AI was enough of an issue to spark a voice actors strike last year.
Embark has not clarified further on just how much AI usage they still intend to use in the development of any additional Arc Raiders content or any future games, or what lines specifically have been replaced by voice actors.
Neopets announced last week in a blog post on their website that they’ve decided to officially end their licensing collaboration with Geekify on the TTRPG. Geekify has been one of the Neopets go-to partners for merchandise for years, and launched a crowdfunding campaign to create a TTRPG based on the world of Neopets. The campaign raised over $400 thousand, with the support of around 7,600 backers. The initial projections for the project slated a December 2024 release, but the project was met with continued delays prior to its cancellation last week.
A beta release of the rules was distributed to backers earlier this year, which was met with widespread backlash as the delivered ruleset was largely a hack of the Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition ruleset rather than an original game.
“As part of our commitment to providing quality Neopets experiences, we regularly review our licensing partnerships to ensure they align with our long-term goals and with the standards we set for official Neopets licensed merchandise and experiential projects.” Neopets wrote in a post. “We determined that it is in the best interest of the Neopets brand and our community to cease this specific project and ongoing license agreement. We wish the best for Geekify Inc as we both continue to grow and evolve separately.”
Regarding the Kickstarter campaign money, Neopets stated that anyone with questions regarding refunds for their pledge need to go through Geekify, as that is the company behind the Kickstarter and managing its funds, though backers of the project will receive an exclusive avatar in-game from Neopets. Neopets also left the door open for possible future TTRPG adaptations, recognizing the immense support garnered by the crowdfunding campaign.
Geekify has not released a statement regarding the cancellation at this time.
Valve Releases Statement Regarding New York Lawsuit Against Loot Boxes
The lawsuit specifically targets some of Valve’s most successful live-service games, such as DOTA 2, Counter-Strike 2, and Team Fortress 2, and argues that the presence of randomized loot boxes or loot box equivalents in this game are a form of gambling, as players must pay money for a random result that only has a small chance of being one of the items a player is potentially looking for.
Valve argues that this is not the case, stating, “These types of boxes in our games are widely used, not just in video games but in the tangible world as well, where generations have grown up opening baseball card packs and blind boxes and bags, and then trading and selling the items they receive. On the physical side, popular products used in this way include baseball cards, Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and Labubu. In the game space, digital packs similar to our boxes date back to 2004 and are in widespread use. Players don't have to open mystery boxes to play Valve games. In fact, most of you don't open any boxes at all and just play the games—because the items in the boxes are purely cosmetic, there is no disadvantage to a player not spending money.”
Valve also claims to monitor these items carefully on in-game marketplaces, and that the company cracks down on any attempt to use these items for purposes that could be perceived as gambling.
The New York Attorney General’s office filed the suit in February of this year after a long investigation into Valve’s loot box business practices prior to filing the suit. In the complaint, the NYAG states that these loot box practices are predatory and dangerous, particularly towards younger audiences, claiming Valve “has made billions of dollars luring its users, many of whom are teenagers or younger, to engage in gambling."
“Ultimately, a court will decide whose position—ours or NYAG's—is correct.” Valve writes to close their statement. At this time, Valve has not stopped any of its loot boxes during, regardless of the impeding court case.
Former Subnautica CEO Wins Lawsuit Against Employers for Trying to Avoid Payment
The lawsuit states that Krafton put pressure on the team at Unknown Worlds and created purposeful barriers to make the team miss the winter 2025 release window for publishing Subnautica 2 in early access. Gill claims that this was intentional on Krafton’s part, so that the company could avoid paying out a $250 million contractual bonus for releasing the early access build on time. Following this, Gill and other leaders at Unknown Worlds threatened to self-publish Subnautica 2, which according to Krafton left the company “no choice” but to remove them from their leadership positions.
In the court ruling, the judge over the case writes that while it was wrong for Gill and other leaders to download company data as leverage, that this action was only taken because Krafton forced their hand with an escalating campaign of blatant corporate sabotage against the team at Unkown Worlds, and that using the threat of releasing the game independently was a weak excuse on Krafton’s part to get rid of Gill and his peers to replace them with Krafton loyalists.
Krafton intends to still fight the case, despite the court ruling. “While we respectfully disagree with today’s ruling, we are evaluating our options as we determine our path forward. Today’s ruling does not resolve the former executives’ claim for damages or an earnout related to Subnautica 2, with further litigation still pending.”
Hachette Announces New Age of Sigmar Spearhead Magazine
According to the post on the Warhammer community website, those who stick with the Spearhead subscription for its entire run will have a spearhead for twelve different factions in the Age of Sigmar universe, including Seraphon, Stormcast, Skaven, Ossiarch Bonereapers, and Gloomspite Gitz, as well as all the terrain required to play a game of Spearhead. In addition to these models, Spearhead will also come with hobby supplies, like paints and brushes, as well as getting started guides for how to paint the models included with the magazine.
Much like Hachette’s previous magazine collaboration with Games Workshop, Combat Patrol, the subscription comes with a normal subscriber tier alongside a deluxe level subscription, which includes extra premium models alongside the twelve Spearhead forces included with the magazine.
Currently, Hachette only has subscription options for Spearhead for UK regions only. The first issue of Spearhead was made available for purchase in store starting on March 4th, with the second issue made available on the 18th. Following these two wide releases, those interested in Spearhead will need to subscribe directly on the Hachette website to get additional issues of the magazine.
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Credit: Valve Corp.
Credit: Warhammer Community
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