Gaming
Roblox Boss Defends Pay-to-Earn Model, Claims It’s a ‘Benefit’
Roblox is truly pushing boundaries, captivating users with its in-game development tools that allow them to bring their wildest imaginations to life. The game has achieved tremendous success as a result. It appears that Sony had a promising concept with Dreams, but unfortunately, they fell short in its implementation. The Roblox platform has a staggering 66 million users worldwide, and one of the reasons it’s so popular is the exciting opportunity for users to create, monetize, and share their own games within the app. However, with over 3 million “Roblox developers” already, a significant number of whom appear to be younger individuals, concerns about potential child exploitation have been circulating for quite a while.
During an interview at GDC, Eurogamer decided to delve deeper into their previous questions by asking Roblox Studio head Stefano Corazza about the game’s increasing reputation. According to Corazza, the creators he collaborates with view Roblox’s business model as a valuable opportunity, considering it a lifeline in dire circumstances. Despite concerns about the reported average payment of 28.9 cents per dollar spent, these developers see it as a “gift” rather than exploitation.
“I don’t know; this can be said about many things, don’t you think?” One could argue, “Alright, we are engaging in the unethical practice of utilizing child labor,” correct? Alternatively, we are providing individuals worldwide with the opportunity to secure employment and generate income. It’s truly remarkable how someone with humble beginnings can now, armed with just a laptop, create something meaningful, earn a living, and sustain their life.
Corazza points out the potential downside of reaching a wide and diverse audience, especially when targeting a younger demographic. He proudly mentions that the majority of their game developers are in their 20s and highlights that they have even hired some teenagers who have amassed millions of players on the platform.
If you were to speak to these fortunate individuals, they would undoubtedly share a contrasting narrative: “They didn’t feel like they were taken advantage of!” They were ecstatic, realizing the immense opportunity that had come their way. With a massive user base and substantial earnings, they felt like they had hit the jackpot and could now enjoy a comfortable retirement. So my main focus is on the impressive amount of money we distribute annually to creators, which is nearing the billion-dollar mark. It’s truly remarkable.” According to a Roblox PR representative, it was mentioned during the interview that the majority of individuals making money on Roblox are over the age of 18.
Is Roblox a potential breeding ground for exploitation? Do you think, Corazza, that the platform and opportunities provided are a valuable asset for aspiring developers? We would greatly appreciate your feedback in the comments section below.
Gaming
Ubisoft says that future Assassin’s Creed games will need more time to be made
As Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about to sneak up on people in November, Ubisoft says that the time between developing games needs to be longer to find the “right balance.” Shadows has been in development for four years, longer than any other game in the series up to this point. That includes the huge open-world epics Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Shadows lead producer Karl Onnée (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz) says that the latest AC game took 25% longer to make than Valhalla. He says this is necessary to keep the quality of the series that it is known for: “It’s always a balance between time and costs, but the more time you have, the more you can iterate.” You can speed up a project by adding more people to it, but that doesn’t give you more time to make changes.
Onnée says this has as much to do with immersion and aesthetics as it does with fixing bugs and smoothing out pixels. This is because the development team needs time to learn about each new historical setting: “We are trying to make a game that is as real as possible.” We’re proud of it, and the process took a long time. In feudal Japan, building a house is very different from building a house in France or England in the Middle Ages. As an artist, you need to learn where to put things in a feudal Japanese home. For example, food might not belong there. Get all the information you need and learn it. That process takes a long time.”
You’ll have to wait a little longer for Ubisoft to work on each game. Are you okay with that? In what part of Shadows are you now? Is it interesting to you? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Gaming
You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP on PS5
You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, a remaster that Dragami Games and Capcom both created. You can now pre-order the PS5 game on the PS Store for $44.99 or £39.99. If you have PS Plus, you can get an extra 10% off the price.
The company put out a new trailer with about three minutes of gameplay to mark the start of the pre-order period. Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a remaster of Grasshopper Manufacture’s crazy action game from 2012. You play as Juliet, a high school student who fights off waves of zombies.
The remaster adds RePOP mode, an alternative mode that swaps out the blood and gore for fun visual effects. It also adds a bunch of other features and improvements that make the game better overall. You can expect the graphics and sound to be better as well.
The game will now come out on September 12, 2024, instead of September 12, 2024. Are you excited to get back to this? Please cheer us on in the section below.
Gaming
This Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 zombies trailer is way too expensive
Is there really anyone who is following the story of Call of Duty’s zombie mode? We’ve known about the story in a vague way for a while, but we couldn’t tell you anything about it. It looks like the “Dark Aether” story will continue in Black Ops 6, but we don’t really know what that means.
For those of you who care, here is the official blurb with some background: “Requiem, led by the CIA, finally closed the last-dimensional portal, sending its inhabitants back to the nightmare world known as the Dark Aether, after two years of fighting zombie outbreaks around the world during the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War timeline.”
Wait, there’s more! “Agent Samantha Maxis gave her life to seal this weird dimension from the inside out.” Even worse things were to come: senior staff members of Requiem were arrested without a reason by the Project Director, who turned out to be Edward Richtofen.
Black Ops 6 will take place about five years later, and it looks like it will show more about Richtofen’s goals and motivations. The most important thing is that you will probably be shooting an unimaginable number of zombies in the head. This week, on August 8, there will be a full reveal of the gameplay, so keep an eye out for that.
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