themightyant

@get2sammyb typo I believe end of penultimate paragraph “seriously” not “series” I think.

But thanks for all the articles and have a good hols.

Animation looks stunning. But I assume that isn't in game.

I respect they have a stance. But I suspect if they looked more closely at many of the other entrants then they would ALSO be using Gen AI somewhere in their pipeline whether for animation, coding or elsewhere that is not so easily identifiable.

Seems pretty performative to me and a clever bit of PR to grab the media cycle and bring attention to their awards. How many years do we give them till the soften or outright reverse their rules?

@PuppetMaster My understanding, and perhaps I am wrong, is that while Cory was credited his "creative director" role was basically because he set up this Norse version of God or War even though he wasn't really involved in the day to day development. (much like Miyamoto is on many Nintendo games) Even though I am sure they would have run some things by him.

My understanding is that he has been fully on his next project basically since GoW 2018 wrapped and while Santa Monica isn't a full 2 team studio they did have a core team in pre-production on his new game with staff slowly transferring to that project as they were freed up on Ragnarok.

Perhaps I am wrong, they are a very quiet bunch, but based on lots of small bits of information they have said over the years and cryptic things ex-SSM dev Alanah Pearce and a few others said at the time there was certainly more than one project going on at SSM during Ragarok’s development.

The power of live service. Even if GT7 is live service lite. Constant small updates, live events and an online store etc.

Definitely one of Sony’s successful live services alongside MLB the Show & Helldivers 2, etc.

I respect Swen and Larian for wanting to be open and transparent about this, most studios already use AI in some way. But I don't expect the most vocal anti-AI bunch to actually listen to anything they say, they get in fight mode as soon as soon as it's mentioned with absolutely no nuance allowed. It's exhausting.

@PuppetMaster Barlog didn't work on Ragnarok, his team was reportedly working on something else.

@PuppetMaster I agree there are plenty in the works but now they have to deliver. How long have we been waiting for Barlog’s new game. But if they do, and I suspect they will, there is no issue which was kinda my whole point.

@Fluberuper yes! Zzz is full of anthropomorphic characters, some more human than others.

I’m convinced the more they give out the more the game isn’t meeting expectations and they are over compensating.

I deleted this of my devices but I’ll probably still log in via PS Portal to claim the rewards in case I ever come back.

@Mintie I'd agree Starfield was solid enough. But I expected better from Bethesda they have usually made generation defining titles, not just gaming comfort food.

@Oram77 A balanced and reasoanble comment on the internet... what's wrong with you! Outrage dammit!

@Reyzore Who would you have them buy? Who is even for sale without spending Microsoft, PIF, or Tencent sort of money?

I disagree they need to take action. Most people don't care about who makes their games, whether it's first party or third party doesn't really matter as long as they have games coming to the system. And PlayStation has basically all the major games coming even from Microsoft, PIF, Tencent etc. PlayStation players already have the widest selection of games on console.

What they need is for the studios they have to deliver a few more world class games... and maybe some new IP. But I'm bored of the whole IP / franchise thing anyway. Give me something new & unique.

@Reyzore It's just you! In the last 4 years alone they have bought Housemarque, Nixxies, Firesprite, Fabrik, Bluepoint, Valkyrie, Lasengle, Haven, Bungie, Neon Koi & Firewalk Studios.

They have spent PLENTY on acquisitions and especially investing in expanding their own studios. We shouldn't normalise the sort of money Microsoft, PIF, or Tencent are spending as the norm.

@SeaDaVie Good posts. Agree on all fronts. The 7.26 million PS5s sold in Japan is in line with most home consoles in the territory and precisely where you would expect it to be in a diminishing market.

Until Sony come to the table with a real handheld that is well supported they are doing about what you would expect.

@Dogbreath what a weird thing to say about one of the most celebrated games of all time. Fine to not like it personally, but to suggest it isn’t a decent game is frankly delusional.

To me it really depends on the extent of it (how many hours, for how long) and how flexible it is.

I can’t read the Bloomberg article (paywall) and this article seems thin on any actual DETAILS, hence it’s impossible to make an informed decision on how I feel about it.

On the one hand: In most industries, especially team based ones, there are periods around key deliverables that you have to work a little harder to get the project over the line, this is normal and should be expected imo. They are paid well, but In exchange have to deliver work on time.

On the other this shouldn’t be for long periods and should be flexible enough to fit around life. Work isn’t everything.

Without knowing more it’s impossible to make an informed decision.

EDIT: it seems it’s been an extra 8 hours a week for around a month and a half, and staff have had flexibility in when they do it. That’s at the upper end of what is acceptable to me if, as is reported, it will be back to normal after the demo.

I like art that has chips and flaws. It’s like pottery. It has imperfections because it didn’t come out of the kiln right

He SHOULD love AI art then... flawed, chipped and imperfect!

(It's a terrible analogy to use in this case, but I get what he meant)

@Member_the_game Yes and no. They are for us who were trained using a controller, but you should see what kids can do in Fortnite, COD, etc. on a mobile because that is what they were trained on. It's quite astounding to me who finds it impossible.

It's a good game, just not a great one, and not as good as some of their earlier works. Still worth a play imo. Enjoy!

@StrickenBiged Thanks for the link. Appreciated, though your link has a couple of extra ').' characters breaking the link. IN case you dont' fix it I have put it again here

https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/SONY-TENCENT-CLONE-SUIT.pdf

Interesting to see Push Square's own Liam Croft referenced on Page 1 of the legal doc.

Waiting for the inevitable release of Might of Lotiram with slightly altered characters and machines.

Great to see. While I have my issues with the format it’s still a hugely entertaining event I look forward to each year despite it finishing around 4am+ in the UK.

@JayJ I like it. There’s at least one! 😘

@orvisbean101 It was advertised pretty heavily on Amazon, I’d expect they had quite a few million more streams.

@RoomWithaMoose I’d posit that November physical sales being the worst since 1995 in the US (and it being down in the UK) is in part BECAUSE this years COD has sold so badly. It’s always the best selling game in its release month going back around 20 years. It selling comparatively poorly will hugely affect the months total sales as we usually see big spikes around major releases like this.

But we also see declining physical sales most months YoY (unless there’s an exceptional release) so this isn’t really much of a surprise either, it’s almost expected behaviour.

Still COD is a major release and the fact it’s the lowest November in 30 years just adds weight to the idea it’s underperformed versus expectations.

@RoomWithaMoose They are all fair points, and I agree we don't have all the information, nor will ever... but there's a lot of supporting evidence including Activision even putting out a statement about how it hasn't met fan expectations. And if it was ONLY the physical sales and ONLY in the UK I might agree with you, but it isn't. It's 30% digital storefronts seemingly everywhere (UK, USA etc.) and this is the second sale it's had after an earlier 15% flash sale off didn't seem to do what they wanted. Clearly not hitting their targets or they wouldn't have put it on sale twice within a month. That's all extremely telling imo.

@Tobimune I agree with much of your post... but Kepler Interactive ISN'T the equivalent of Jay Z's massive record label, they are a small publisher (formed from the partnership of 7 independent game developers) specifically formed to help their own, and other independent studios publish their games without a major publisher.

Either way I don't really care about how it's labelled, it's just semantics that doesn't change the game. But I do think The Game Awards (and other awards) need to make a line in the sand about how to classify indie games. But this isn't easy.

How would you all define Indie games for an awards?

E.g. Almost every "indie" game at TGAs (except Hades 2 I think) was part funded by some bigger corporation / entity whether that's Venture Capitalists, major publishers, state funding, Microsoft or Sony through Game Pass PS+, etc.

If you limit it by budget Silksong probably wins (except Game Pass money?). If you limit it by staff Silksong probably wins, if you limit it by self publishing Silksong or Hades 2 probably wins. It doesn't change all much imo!

@RoomWithaMoose The KEY word here is comparative it's doing the heavy lifting. It isn't a complete flop (as far as we know) but in comparison to their expectations based on prior performance, not to mention the obscene amounts of money that go into making this it seems like it is a comparative failure/flop.

As for prices it's £48.99 (down 30% from £69.99) on the PlayStation Store here, £48.99 on Steam here, £36.97 at Asda here, £37.99 at Argos here, £37.99 on Amazon UK, £39 at Currys, etc. etc. I'm struggling to find a store that sells it at full price, < £40 is the norm everywhere I've looked... and it's been out just 1 month.

I hope I am right too! (Fingers crossed, we don't all implode)

@Rich33 Yes procedural generation has been used for decades, and is still used today in many projects and middleware like SpeedTree. AI could definitely be used to make it better in some cases when used alongside it and other algorithm based building techniques.

I absolute hope not about "the biggest most boring open worlds possible" but I am excited about what a small team might be able to do with the tech. Perhaps a small team taking on an Elder Scrolls like game, similar perhaps to what HelloGames did with No Man's Sky using Procedural Generation.

@RoomWithaMoose I don't think anyone is suggesting it's a "flop" but success and failure are relative. i.e. If GTA6 "only" sold 20 million copies that would likely be the best selling game of the next year, but also a comparative failure.

It's the same with BLOPS7, it CLEARLY isn't selling well, not just based on sales reports in many territories, but on the reaction to both digital (30% off)and physical sales (up to 50% off) less than a month after release. What successful game does that?

@get2sammyb @Oram77 As a rough guestimate their annual burn rate is probably around $750m PLUS marketing, of which there's a lot.

It's doing so badly at retail that many stores have reduced it almost 50% off (£37.99 on Amazon), the digital version is 30% off (£48.99) less than a month after launch on PSN. Things definitely not rosy.

@Oram77 You are most probably right. But without knowing what their P&L is it's impossible to know whether those sales are sufficient to keep them on an even keel. I'm sure they are making a profit, but Activision is MASSIVE and they have a lot of mouths to feed.

Last I read the Activision portion of ABK still had over 5,000+ employees as of Oct 2025 and they have released just two games in the last 12 months: the new COD and TPHS 3+4 remake. It's been similar output for years e.g. last year was COD 2024 and the now cancelled Warzone: Mobile; the year before was COD 2023 and Crash team Rumble.

One thing is for certain things won't be as rosy as usual over there.

@Rich33 As for Gen-AI art there's two ways of looking at this.

If, as you say, it's missing "imagination" then what do humans have to worry about? It's never going to be able to compete artistically.

Alternatively if you proscribe to the idea that there are no new ideas (or very few new ideas) it's more a combination of existing ideas mashed up in a new way that we, as humans, subjectively decide is interesting, or not, is Gen-AI art not doing similar?

Personally I think it falls in the middle somewhere and there some truth to both statements. Ultimately we humans get to decide what is good art, or not. While I think I will always prefer something human made, i'd also, in addition, like to see what AI can offer once it is mature and not taking it's first Bambi like steps on ice, which is about where it is now. Why limit ourselves to just one?

EDIT: Yes it's a deep, but very interesting, line of thought. I don't pretend to have any answers, but I enjoy discussing it regardless and slowly forming a more solid opinion.

Another thing that needs consideration when legislating is that massive job redundancy caused by AI will eventually crash entire economies if let get out of hand.

@Rich33 I just don't see that happening for 2 reasons.

1) Mass unemployment didn't happen for machinery, electricity, robotics, computers, the internet... so why AI? Sure some specific jobs will probably go due to AI, just as we once had lamp-lighters before electricity, but I suspect there will be many other jobs created in other areas due to AI which will balance out just as it was with those other huge shifts. I realise if you are in one of the at risk jobs then change can be scary on a personal level - and FWIW i'm probably one of them - but that's down to luck. The key is staying agile, transferrable skills.

2) The balance of governmental power is very precarious, and democracy only works if the people buy into it en masse. If there was a massive increase in unemployment then the people would rebel and democracy would quickly fall apart. I don't think governments can allow that to happen else they, and their cronies, will be out of power. Even if it was just for self serving reasons, and I don't believe it is in many cases, they have a vested interest in keeping the populous happy by keeping the status quo. That's already being pushed with cost of living... mass unemployment due to AI would push it over the edge. No one in power wants anarchy as they will lose that power.

@Rich33 I'm with you in the AI (and other tech) legislation being a long way behind. But in reality it's a tough nut to crack as we, rightly, in most democratic countries have all sorts of political protections in place to prevent kneejerk legislation on the topic du jour. We absolutely shouldn't make decisions with deep implications too fast, especially when tempers are high on a new, not fully understood, topic. Throughout history that has usually proven to be a mistake, instead it needs to be carefully measured response taking into account many factors and viewpoints, which unfortunately takes time. That said it's glacially slow right now and this needs to be faster. Tough balance to get right.

For me the big question that needs to be solved faster with Gen-AI is about what constitutes "theft". Personally, even as a creative, I DON'T believe training AI on publicly available information is theft anymore than it is if I go to the internet to learn about a topic and gather a whole load of art / ideas to create mood boards for inspiration. This is an important part of most creative processes. We as humans are all learning off everything we have seen up to that point... why should AI be any different? I realise and respect many feel differently on this, which is why I think it's the main thing that needs clarification on fast. But I have yet to hear one logical argument about why it should be any different for computers than humans.

As for THIS specific use case. Swen Vinke said HOW they use it for art e.g. basically assembling mood boards online (which they already do manually, which can be time consuming) and then their concept artists can choose to use Gen-AI for coming up with fast early concept ideas, alongside their early work, to focus what areas they want to spend their limited man hours on. That seems like a sensible and measured use AI to me, and not worthy of the backlash in this case.

As he later clarified they are actually hiring MORE concept artists, not less, it isn't taking their jobs at Larian on this project, which seems to be people's #1 fear.

@FuriousMachine Are people more trusting of AI? Press X to doubt. Everyone seems rightly sceptical of AI results right now.

@FuriousMachine Sounds like ANY information gained off the internet to be honest. Don't trust just one source.

@Rich33 Weird, i'm getting "Sir Keir Starmer & Family" and Rachel Reeves in the #10 flat plus "larry the cat".

Either way my point still stands that this tech will improve, writing it off now would be like writing off early 3D graphics and we wouldn't be where we are today with photoreal 3d worlds.

Also apologies, I know you're not a baiter.

@Rich33 What AI search are you using? I just put the questions "where does the Prime Minister live" and "who is the British Prime Minister" to Google Gemini, ChatGPT & Copilot and they all came up with the right answers and right PM, etc. This seems like bait!

Bookkeepers probably had the exact same view when computers started replacing physical ledgers. You have to use the technology to stay current and then work out how and where it can be applied to save time, or you become irrelevant in a few years.

@ilyn THIS 👏👏👏

It's new tech, it will likely improve. Imagine if we stopped making 3D games because early efforts looked awful. And if it doesn't improve or isn't useful to us, then it will fall to the side like 3D TVs or NFTs. But first you have to see IF it will be of use by actually using it.

The patient fox gets all the chickens... or some such

@Jrs1 Yeah... I might actually buy it. It's worth it imo and i've enjoyed going back to it a few times. Good call!

Does it REALLY matter? No.
Would it be nice to have? Yes.
Would it make me marginally more likely to play? Depends on the list!

@PuppetMaster @Voltan It's a fair point about testing and rebalancing, and I agree they have to get it right at launch, but I was accounting for that already. When we look at other games that do this (e.g. SF6, Tekken 8) it's usually around 6 months from the first CBT to release, this seems like it will be considerably longer based on where they are with drip marketing. As I said it's a balance.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is a brilliant little experience you can play in one, or two, short sittings. Give it a go before it leaves. Will have to play it again before 20th Jan!

@PuppetMaster They were under absolutely NO pressure to announce this early, no one even knew it was being developed, so it wasn't damned if you do/don't situation.

I agree people are impatient, but you aren't going to change that, which is why WHEN you announce is important if you want to ride the wave of hype you generate... they didn't get it quite right so far.

Great to hear! Looking forward to this one.

This happens across most platforms, it isn't just Sony/PlayStation The same issue has been happening on Xbox with these Yakuza games and with Red Dead as reported on by Pure Xbox and others.

Brilliant game looking forward to playing more.

I feel this was announced too early, they needed to ride the hype wave to people actually playing the game. But making people wait has negatively affected its hype cycle. It’s a hard balance.

Not sure about your questions here, frankly I can't remember what I put, but of the TGA winners I predicted 23/29 awards correctly.