Sacred Symbols+, Episode 441 | Ubisoft vs. Its Customers, Kotick vs. Kotaku, and SAG-AFTRA vs. AI (Video) (Patreon)

Ubisoft vs. Its Customers, Kotick vs. Kotaku, and SAG-AFTRA vs. AI | Sacred Symbols+, Episode 441

Please give a warm welcome to returning guest Rick Hoeg, friend-of-the-show and lawyer extraordinaire. I (Colin) invited Hoeg back to Sacred+ for yet another chat about a series of legal and business happenings that concern our industry. For starters: What's going on with reporting around Ubisoft and Assassin's Creed Shadows, particularly in regard to protecting devs from abusive speech? Is this a way for the publisher to quell legitimate criticism, or are they pursuing a righteous path by chasing their detractors? Then: A new report indicates that Ex-Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has filed suit against gaming website Kotaku, as well as its sister property Gizmodo, with claims of defamation. Does he have any chance of winning in a court of law, or is he another example of a financial titan using his resources to crush dissent? Finally: Behemoth entertainment union SAF-AFTRA released a statement on behalf of their games clientele, noting that they're seemingly no closer to a deal with many publishers and developers on a series of AI-related issues that seriously affect voice and motion capture. Will this ever get resolved? And could an all-new multinational and multidiscipline union recently launched during GDC help ameliorate incessant labor issues?