cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/49263187

Tim Sweeney claims it’s a “Scarlet Letter” which makes players “try to kill the game”

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has criticised rival Valve for forcing studios to disclose when they use AI in game development.

Epic recently showed how it was integrating AI into Unreal Engine 6.

Time Sweeney said:

“If you want to launch a game, and get it as widely publicized as possible, you’ve got to put it on Steam so people can wish list it, and if you want to play it on Steam, then you have to get this Scarlet Letter of AI attached to your product, and now there is a hater community trying to kill the game.

“I think it’s really irresponsible of Valve. They shouldn’t do it, because it makes it much, much, much harder for a game developer to have a chance of success. You have to choose from either not using tools that can make you way more productive, and probably failing due to competition that does.”

Which is totally ignoring the factor that the user should know about the purchase it makes and be able to decide for themselves. Transparency for the player is not a bad thing.

  • nullroot@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Hilariously, the example cited in the article doesn’t seem to actually count towards steams ai policy. Sweeney, you’re just so very full of shit.

  • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zip
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    7 days ago

    He’s got it all wrong. We don’t want to kill the game, in my case, I just want to kill HIM.

  • Kirp123@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Fuck you Tim Sweeney. Valve is right for putting that info up so people can make informed purchases.

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        9 days ago

        Disney uses the hell out of Unreal Engine tho, they used it extensively for the filming of The Mandalorian.

        I wish they’d go bankrupt but they will be fine off of Unreal royalties alone.

      • Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca
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        9 days ago

        I mean, they’ve been around for 35 years and they do something like 5 billion USD a year in revenue. I think they’re going to be fine.

        I don’t necessarily want this iteration of Epic to be fine, but I’m sure they will be

  • renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net
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    9 days ago

    Transparency so customers can make informed decisions is “irresponsible”? What a garbage take.

    If using AI is a “scarlet letter” that makes people hate your game then don’t use it?! The willful ignorance to customer preference is staggering.

  • Telorand@reddthat.com
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    9 days ago

    And this, Tim, is why I spend most of my money at Steam.

    This may shock you, but proudly parading that you want to fuck over consumers at every opportunity is not good incentive.

  • geekwithsoul@piefed.social
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    9 days ago

    The best thing about Tim Sweeney is that he consistently has the most wrong take on any issue. He’s like the Lou Gehrig of being an idiot.

    • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
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      8 days ago

      They give you lot of reasons to. For me it was a personal thing when I really started to hate Epic Games. 2019 Epic purchased the studio of Rocket League, when the game was in a hype phase and I played and enjoyed it very much on my Linux system. Shortly after they removed the Linux support for the game and then they also removed it from Steam as well. Due to an update of the game it was no longer viable to support it on Linux they said.

      This really really bugged me on a personal level. Today I think the game is playable on Linux, I don’t know exactly. But it requires Epic Games Launcher and probably account on them. To me the game is dead. And Epic killed it (for me).

      • slacktoid@lemmy.ml
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        8 days ago

        Yes! This is exactly why I too hate epic. They could throw a free game at me, I’d still buy it on steam. I have no intention of going where I’m not wanted.

        And I was just getting good at rocket league

        • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
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          8 days ago

          No offense, but did you not read what I wrote? Edit: Sorry, that was rude by me. They had removed the game in the past from Steam and the Linux support. I think years later they added Linux support again, but I already moved on. While we seem to be able to play through Steam, the Epic Games Launcher still runs in the background and an Epic account is needed too (I think, is that true?). And no one can purchase it on Steam anymore.

          • MBech@feddit.dk
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            8 days ago

            All I know is, I bought it on release day on Steam, have played it throughout the whole epic thing and still do, through Steam. I don’t have epic installed on my pc. I don’t know about linux support, I don’t use it. It is however true that you can’t get it on steam anymore, but it is free on Epic. I might have linked my steam profile to epic in order to play, not sure though, it’s been a while.

            • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
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              8 days ago

              When I say you need Epic Games launcher, then I don’t mean you have to install it yourself. Usually these launchers (like Ubisoft or Rockstar) are installing it in the background and require additional resources. As said I’m not sure if this is true for the Steam version here too. If you don’t play on Linux, then you didn’t have the Linux issues then I guess. That was my main complaint, as the they took away the native Linux version and made it for months or longer unplayable for me. And that was a time when I had a lot of fun before Epic ruined it for me. If it worked for you the whole time, then good for you.

    • olympicyes@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Sweeney doesn’t like games, he’s just into programming and game engines. That might help the disconnect between him and gamers.

  • tabular@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    “We must do X at any cost to the user because others will do it and get the money”

    This mentality has driven the games industry to become psychologically manipulative, subscription battleass and absolutely proprietary.

    Maybe the irresponsibility is in ourselves for giving those game companies money.

  • Soup@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    Super strong “If I told you who I really was you’d never have slept with me!” energy.

    It’s called consent. If people wouldn’t want to engage with the content unless they were misled in some way then that amounts to manipulation and a violation of trust. Looks like Epic Games just told the whole world that they would lie to their customers if they felt like the truth would give them too much choice.

    Fuck ‘em.

  • binux@sh.itjust.works
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    8 days ago

    Bitch-boy CEO whining about rival company that epitomizes everything he doesn’t have at every chance he gets, very typical behaviour just carry on

  • Kissaki@feddit.org
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    8 days ago

    Sugar labels on food didn’t stop their sales 🤷

    I don’t see it. Disclosure is always a good thing.

    Some people care, and they should have the option to choose. Not be misled, ignored, or lied to.

  • Lemmayng@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Tim Sweeney, the pedophile (protector) who insists that pedophiles aren’t using Roblox to commit pedophilic crimes by preying on minors? That Tim Sweeney?

    • db2@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      He also says that stopping ai generated csam is “gatekeeping”.

      Whenever I say this his apologists magically appear.

      • OwOarchist@pawb.social
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        8 days ago

        Okay, lol. To start with, that’s not what the term ‘gatekeeping’ means – he’s not even using the term correctly.

        If a group of real csam producers was trying to keep ai csam producers out of their group, that would be gatekeeping.

      • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        …gatekerping csam? Or gatekeeping AI?

        Because both are rediculous statements, but for entirely different reasons.