00:00 - 00:03
so A lot's happened in the games
00:01 - 00:05
industry in 2024 it's not been great for
00:03 - 00:07
those people working in the industry and
00:05 - 00:09
I don't think it's going to be good for
00:07 - 00:11
people playing games in the future if it
00:09 - 00:13
continues the way it is so the question
00:11 - 00:16
is what are these events and what can it
00:13 - 00:18
tell us about what's coming in 2025 and
00:16 - 00:19
how should we prepare for it so first of
00:18 - 00:23
all let's take a look at the games
00:19 - 00:25
industry within 2024 we've had 13,000
00:23 - 00:27
job losses this year alone and that's
00:25 - 00:30
compounded by the fact that we had
00:27 - 00:32
10,000 job losses in 2023 so this is the
00:30 - 00:35
likes of Microsoft gaming they had
00:32 - 00:37
nearly 3,000 layoffs Unity Technologies
00:37 - 00:43
1,800 Sony Electronic Arts Ubisoft epic
00:40 - 00:45
games take two interactive Riot games
00:43 - 00:47
and Sega what's really interesting to me
00:45 - 00:50
and it seems typical of Industry today
00:47 - 00:52
and how we operate big business each of
00:50 - 00:55
these companies made a substantial
00:52 - 00:57
profit last year take Microsoft gaming
00:55 - 01:02
laid off 3,000 members of Staff but made
00:57 - 01:04
a $5 billion profit Unity 1.2 billion
01:02 - 01:07
Sony interactive entertainment 3.5
01:04 - 01:08
Electronic Arts 2 billion and so on so
01:07 - 01:11
let's dig a little bit deeper and take
01:08 - 01:13
that a bit further the average annual
01:11 - 01:16
salary for a game artist in the United
01:18 - 01:21
$3,136 that actually sounds a little bit
01:20 - 01:24
High to me but um perhaps it's being
01:21 - 01:26
pulled up by some high earners there
01:24 - 01:28
somewhere but we'll take it that it's
01:26 - 01:30
123,000 now Microsoft gaming in their
01:28 - 01:34
wisdom they laid off 3,000 members of
01:30 - 01:37
staff so that's 3,000 *
01:34 - 01:40
123,000 so we've got just under 370
01:37 - 01:42
million that is a percentage of their 5
01:40 - 01:45
billion profit is
01:42 - 01:46
7.4% I don't exactly know the employment
01:45 - 01:48
laws in the US but let's say there's
01:46 - 01:50
other costs in there perhaps you have to
01:48 - 01:53
put something to pension if you're an
01:50 - 01:56
employer so let's raise that to 10% so
01:53 - 01:58
10% of their profits this is just their
01:56 - 02:01
profits could go onto keeping those
01:58 - 02:04
staff but it's not and unfortunately
02:01 - 02:06
this is a trend we see across many
02:04 - 02:08
Industries these companies have to show
02:06 - 02:10
that they're growing it's not just okay
02:08 - 02:12
to have good profits they need to show
02:10 - 02:13
that the profits are going up each year
02:12 - 02:15
otherwise the shareholders get a bit
02:13 - 02:17
scared and they might withdraw their
02:15 - 02:19
money and of course to make sure these
02:17 - 02:22
profits keep going up they will cut
02:19 - 02:24
where they can and in this case it's the
02:22 - 02:27
staff I can't help but feel this is
02:24 - 02:28
really counterintuitive if You' got 10%
02:27 - 02:30
of your profits that you could be
02:28 - 02:32
putting on to staff to make these games
02:30 - 02:33
the product that you are selling You'
02:32 - 02:36
think you'd want to keep them but then
02:33 - 02:37
I'm not a wise CEO so those are some of
02:36 - 02:39
the figures and we also get reports
02:37 - 02:41
about how difficult it is to work as an
02:39 - 02:43
artist within the industry it seems
02:41 - 02:46
artists in particular are treated quite
02:43 - 02:49
badly difficult conditions huge pressure
02:46 - 02:50
long hours so people are not only losing
02:49 - 02:52
their jobs but they're not particularly
02:50 - 02:54
nice jobs to start with so why is this
02:52 - 02:55
happening and what does it mean for us
02:54 - 02:56
and what can we do about it well
02:55 - 02:58
unfortunately this is the common
02:56 - 03:00
progression of putting profits before
02:58 - 03:03
people and it it's the natural
03:00 - 03:04
progression of big corporations they
03:03 - 03:06
purposely bring these type of people in
03:04 - 03:08
who are making these decisions to sell
03:06 - 03:09
off staff because they're only concerned
03:08 - 03:12
with profit and they will tell that
03:09 - 03:14
person your job is to make this company
03:12 - 03:16
profitable or more profitable and
03:14 - 03:18
unfortunately the inevitable treatment
03:16 - 03:21
of workers follows but wait there's more
03:18 - 03:23
we haven't got to the worst part of 2024
03:21 - 03:25
yet there is of course the elephant in
03:23 - 03:27
the room which is ai ai has the
03:25 - 03:30
potential to take away a lot of jobs in
03:27 - 03:32
the industry and of course CEOs will
03:30 - 03:35
always look for ways to cut costs a big
03:32 - 03:38
cost for any company is the Staffing so
03:35 - 03:40
CEOs are absolutely desperate to get AI
03:38 - 03:43
working instead of those staff members
03:40 - 03:44
that AI will work 24 hours a day and
03:43 - 03:47
they won't complain about tough
03:44 - 03:49
conditions or high pressure now ai
03:47 - 03:51
certainly isn't there yet in my opinion
03:49 - 03:53
but it's definitely having an impact
03:51 - 03:55
already on the workplace I've heard of
03:53 - 03:57
lots of freelance concept artists having
03:55 - 04:00
less work and the type of work that's
03:57 - 04:02
out there seems to be cleaning up Ai and
04:00 - 04:03
it's bad job that it's done so is there
04:02 - 04:06
anything around the corner that's going
04:03 - 04:07
to protect us or save us from this AI
04:06 - 04:09
Scourge well you might be thinking what
04:07 - 04:12
about the court cases that are coming up
04:09 - 04:14
open AI they're being sued for copyright
04:12 - 04:16
infringement because they've scraped
04:14 - 04:17
artists work without their permission
04:16 - 04:19
and maybe these big companies won't be
04:17 - 04:22
able to scrape people's artwork anymore
04:19 - 04:24
and artists might get paid fairly well
04:22 - 04:26
in my opinion I'm afraid to say I don't
04:24 - 04:27
think that's going to happen if we take
04:26 - 04:30
a brief look at history we've got things
04:27 - 04:32
like the banking industry in 20 08
04:30 - 04:34
they're a huge industry lots of money of
04:32 - 04:36
course that's where all the money is and
04:34 - 04:39
they caused an absolute catastrophe the
04:36 - 04:40
banks gave out very dubious loans and
04:39 - 04:43
regulation wasn't particularly tight
04:40 - 04:45
back then so they did it a lot this
04:43 - 04:46
affected millions of people you could
04:45 - 04:48
even say billions of people because the
04:46 - 04:51
shock wavs from this were felt all
04:48 - 04:53
around the world with a global financial
04:51 - 04:56
crisis many people lost their homes
04:53 - 04:57
their savings and it was an absolute
04:56 - 05:00
disaster what was the result of this
04:57 - 05:02
once we got past this catastrophe was
05:00 - 05:04
there any justice well there was one
05:02 - 05:07
person that went to jail and to be fair
05:04 - 05:09
that's actually unusual that anybody got
05:07 - 05:11
any sort of Justice this was a case
05:09 - 05:13
where many big Banks were pretty much
05:11 - 05:16
committing fraud and that would have
05:13 - 05:19
taken quite a huge coordinated effort of
05:16 - 05:21
people kind of hiding a bit of the facts
05:19 - 05:24
here hiding facts there and we have one
05:21 - 05:26
person that ended up going to jail as
05:24 - 05:28
the kind of scapegoat for it all this is
05:26 - 05:30
all allegedly please don't come after me
05:28 - 05:31
now as a response to this the government
05:30 - 05:34
being the responsible things that they
05:31 - 05:36
are they got involved and they actually
05:34 - 05:38
bailed out the banks gave them loads of
05:36 - 05:40
money taxpayers money mine and yours
05:38 - 05:42
money and now we've got regulation so it
05:40 - 05:44
will never happen again and that
05:42 - 05:46
regulation is slowly being watered down
05:44 - 05:50
by each successive government that we
05:46 - 05:52
have since 2008 this pattern is repeated
05:50 - 05:54
over and over we've got big pharmac
05:52 - 05:56
suable companies that make addictive
05:54 - 05:58
painkillers allegedly then there's
05:56 - 05:59
things like the tobacco industry
05:58 - 06:01
cigarettes kill 8 to 9 million milon
05:59 - 06:03
people a year but you can still with
06:01 - 06:05
some restrictions buy cigarettes then
06:03 - 06:07
you've also probably heard the stories
06:05 - 06:10
about nasty chemical industries that
06:07 - 06:12
have polluted rivers and communities
06:10 - 06:14
have being killed by these things it's
06:12 - 06:17
horrible stuff but they're big companies
06:14 - 06:19
and unfortunately they regularly get
06:17 - 06:21
away with these things or they get some
06:19 - 06:22
sort of slap on the wrist perhaps some
06:21 - 06:25
sort of fine that affects their profits
06:22 - 06:27
but it's very rare that these companies
06:25 - 06:29
really get held to account or the people
06:27 - 06:31
in fact that are involved in these TR
06:29 - 06:34
IES now I don't mean to dwell on these
06:31 - 06:36
things or be overly negative what
06:34 - 06:38
history has taught us is that big money
06:36 - 06:41
and big business has a huge sway in our
06:38 - 06:44
societies they have a heavy influence on
06:41 - 06:45
our politics and therefore our laws so
06:44 - 06:48
back to the artists that have had their
06:45 - 06:50
work scraped and copied and are in fact
06:48 - 06:52
losing their jobs to the machines that
06:50 - 06:55
did it these big companies that broke
06:52 - 06:57
copyright law are extremely big they
06:55 - 06:59
have a lot of power especially compared
06:57 - 07:01
to the rights of a relatively small
06:59 - 07:03
number number of artists and yes much of
07:01 - 07:06
the artist Community are up in arms but
07:03 - 07:08
that's a small group and is anybody else
07:06 - 07:10
perhaps there are a few supporters who
07:08 - 07:12
are worried about their own jobs maybe
07:10 - 07:15
and even if these court cases are
07:12 - 07:17
successful what will the results be I
07:15 - 07:19
don't think AI will stop taking away
07:17 - 07:21
people's jobs I think it will continue
07:19 - 07:23
to grow the big companies might get a
07:21 - 07:25
slap on the wrist and perhaps have to
07:23 - 07:27
pay something out of their masses of
07:25 - 07:30
profit will it stop them developing this
07:27 - 07:32
software I don't think so the industry
07:30 - 07:35
will actually just find a way of taking
07:32 - 07:36
away your copyright rights and we've
07:35 - 07:39
already started to see that with
07:36 - 07:41
companies like Adobe saying that they
07:39 - 07:44
own the rights to use your work that you
07:41 - 07:46
create in their program for their AI
07:44 - 07:48
training and yes of course you can opt
07:46 - 07:51
out but for how long it seems like most
07:48 - 07:54
of these companies are developing ways
07:51 - 07:55
to kind of take away your copyright
07:54 - 07:58
rights unfortunately we need these
07:55 - 08:00
companies I need YouTube in order to
07:58 - 08:02
show this video to you and YouTube to a
08:00 - 08:03
degree can say what they like in the
08:02 - 08:05
rights that I have so I'm fairly
08:03 - 08:07
confident that these companies will keep
08:05 - 08:09
doing what they're doing and AI will
08:07 - 08:11
therefore get better and better it's
08:09 - 08:13
certainly not there yet for the more
08:11 - 08:16
complex tasks and it needs quite a lot
08:13 - 08:18
of human intervention to help it along
08:16 - 08:20
and get it to a point where it's even
08:18 - 08:22
possible but it will steadily take more
08:20 - 08:24
and more jobs away from the industry
08:22 - 08:27
there will be some created by it but not
08:24 - 08:28
as many as taken away in my opinion so
08:27 - 08:30
this is all sounding a bit Doom and
08:28 - 08:32
Gloom I'm trying to be pragmatic and
08:30 - 08:34
realistic here so are there any
08:32 - 08:35
positives and what can we do about this
08:34 - 08:37
situation that we're in well I believe
08:35 - 08:40
there is a way we can respond it's not
08:37 - 08:41
necessarily fighting back but it's
08:40 - 08:43
adapting to these changes that are
08:41 - 08:45
happening around us now don't get me
08:43 - 08:47
wrong you can fight back you can
08:45 - 08:49
unionize and gather together as people
08:47 - 08:51
and kind of fight the power as it were
08:49 - 08:54
and I do believe that's important but I
08:51 - 08:55
do also think we need to be aware and
08:54 - 08:57
ready for the changes that will
08:55 - 08:59
inevitably happen so I do think these
08:57 - 09:01
tumultuous changes will continue
08:59 - 09:04
continue into 2025 but I do have some
09:01 - 09:07
advice for beginners or people starting
09:04 - 09:08
a career out there or maybe in the first
09:07 - 09:11
rung of their Journey so my advice would
09:08 - 09:13
be this most importantly don't give up
09:11 - 09:15
on your dream if you are desperate to
09:13 - 09:17
become a game artist then continue along
09:15 - 09:19
with that but the way I would approach
09:17 - 09:22
the following Years is as follows
09:19 - 09:24
firstly I would still recommend a good
09:22 - 09:27
grasp of the basic and all the different
09:24 - 09:29
skills that you need for example AI has
09:27 - 09:32
still not come up with a solution for R
09:29 - 09:34
topology and retopology is still very
09:32 - 09:36
important within the 3D modeling world
09:34 - 09:38
and let's say AI did figure out
09:36 - 09:39
retopology you'd still need an
09:38 - 09:42
understanding of retopology in order to
09:39 - 09:43
check that it's got it right and that's
09:42 - 09:45
the same with all these different skills
09:43 - 09:47
the more you know the more you will be
09:45 - 09:49
able to see whether AI is doing these
09:47 - 09:51
things correctly or not or be able to
09:49 - 09:54
guide the AI systems if you have to end
09:51 - 09:56
up working with them into the right
09:54 - 09:58
pathway and into what is good art and
09:56 - 10:00
that's if you are working with AI you
09:58 - 10:02
may not be working with AI for a long
10:00 - 10:05
time to come because it may not get that
10:02 - 10:08
last bit that seems to be quite tricky
10:05 - 10:09
which is from AI artist to real artist
10:08 - 10:11
if we can call it that so learn lots of
10:09 - 10:13
different skills as many as you can to
10:11 - 10:15
you understand the different parts of
10:13 - 10:17
the industry practice your drawing
10:15 - 10:19
practice your 3D modeling practice your
10:17 - 10:21
hard surface modeling and so forth
10:19 - 10:23
getting a good grasp of all the
10:21 - 10:25
different skills I think will be really
10:23 - 10:27
important so you can be adaptable and
10:25 - 10:28
perhaps move into the different areas
10:27 - 10:30
that are needed now personally and this
10:28 - 10:31
might be for a different video but I
10:30 - 10:33
wouldn't actually suggest going to
10:31 - 10:35
college or university now that does
10:33 - 10:38
depend a little bit on your location in
10:35 - 10:40
fact and your general situation but I
10:38 - 10:41
think if it's going to cost you a lot of
10:40 - 10:44
money to do that I'd rather be spending
10:41 - 10:46
it on smaller shorter courses and
10:44 - 10:49
equipment that I can use that will do
10:46 - 10:50
the job and maybe I can get a few jobs
10:49 - 10:52
whilst I'm learning and along with that
10:50 - 10:54
and probably the most important part I
10:52 - 10:57
think is instead of having Big Dreams to
10:54 - 10:59
work for something like Disney or Pixar
10:57 - 11:02
then instead look at thinking about
10:59 - 11:04
smaller Studios the Indie Studios and
11:02 - 11:07
even better than this look to start
11:04 - 11:09
making your own Indie Games in maybe a
11:07 - 11:12
team make connections collaborate with
11:09 - 11:13
people and different artists different
11:12 - 11:16
developers now I'm not saying this is
11:13 - 11:17
easy at all and lots of the time these
11:16 - 11:19
sort of people that are doing this have
11:17 - 11:21
jobs on the side but that can kind of be
11:19 - 11:23
true for people at University or college
11:21 - 11:25
they have to have a a side job to
11:23 - 11:26
support themselves whilst they're going
11:25 - 11:28
through studying and yes it's still
11:26 - 11:30
difficult you might not get there for a
11:28 - 11:32
few years but you learn a huge amount by
11:30 - 11:35
working in a team with these different
11:32 - 11:36
people collaborating failing Lots but I
11:35 - 11:38
really think that gives you the best
11:36 - 11:40
chance to get into the industry you do
11:38 - 11:42
still need to invest in yourselves and
11:40 - 11:43
obviously taking courses online I know
11:42 - 11:45
that it sounds like I would say that
11:43 - 11:47
because I produce courses online but I
11:45 - 11:49
really think and I really do believe in
11:47 - 11:51
those and even a short program that you
11:49 - 11:54
can take online rather than going off to
11:51 - 11:56
University I think that's a better plan
11:54 - 11:58
and more bang for your buck as it were I
11:56 - 11:59
also think that those courses are more
11:58 - 12:01
likely to be up up to date because
11:59 - 12:03
people are regularly releasing these
12:01 - 12:05
courses and therefore you're more
12:03 - 12:08
adaptable to the changes in the industry
12:05 - 12:10
you may also choose to try and use Ai
12:08 - 12:13
and learn AI I would understand that you
12:10 - 12:15
might get a lot of stick from the artist
12:13 - 12:19
Community for doing that but it's likely
12:15 - 12:20
to be part of your journey as you go
12:19 - 12:23
through because it's inevitable
12:20 - 12:24
unfortunately you're likely to also find
12:23 - 12:27
that it's not quite there yet and you
12:24 - 12:29
need that understanding of the basics in
12:27 - 12:31
order to use it properly or get the most
12:29 - 12:32
out of it you might choose not to use Ai
12:31 - 12:34
and that's commendable but an
12:32 - 12:36
understanding of AI I think will be
12:34 - 12:38
important generally what I'm trying to
12:36 - 12:40
encourage is that you take control of
12:38 - 12:41
your situation rather than thinking I'm
12:40 - 12:45
going to try and aim for this big
12:41 - 12:48
company that has a choice of thousands
12:45 - 12:50
of artists and only two positions which
12:48 - 12:52
might end up being one position
12:50 - 12:55
eventually you're not really in control
12:52 - 12:57
there if you make your own Indie Studio
12:55 - 13:00
then you are in control if you join a
12:57 - 13:03
group of people who are like-minded on
13:00 - 13:05
the similar level that you are then you
13:03 - 13:07
are building something together and
13:05 - 13:11
there are success stories the big ones
13:07 - 13:13
being mana Lords uh palor Wukong but
13:11 - 13:16
there are of course also thousands that
13:13 - 13:18
are unsuccessful but I do think that if
13:16 - 13:19
you stick with it and you're passionate
13:18 - 13:22
about it and understand that there will
13:19 - 13:24
be these difficulties down the road you
13:22 - 13:27
will eventually get something out of the
13:24 - 13:29
industry and you have your best chance
13:27 - 13:31
it won't be easy but it never actually
13:29 - 13:34
has been it's always been very hard work
13:31 - 13:36
to get into this industry times are
13:34 - 13:38
certainly changing but they are always
13:36 - 13:40
changing and they always have been
13:38 - 13:42
changing the main thing is to be
13:40 - 13:45
adaptable to this change that's coming
13:42 - 13:48
try not to fight against it as Bruce Lee
13:45 - 13:50
once said be like water because water
13:48 - 13:53
can fit into any container if you're
13:50 - 13:55
like water you can adapt and flow with
13:53 - 13:57
the punches I honestly think that there
13:55 - 13:59
will be lots of opportunities out there
13:57 - 14:02
and I think new tech could perhaps help
13:59 - 14:03
people to realize their ideas a bit
14:02 - 14:06
easier and I'm really hoping that we'll
14:03 - 14:08
start to see more Innovative games and
14:06 - 14:10
exciting games in the future so let me
14:08 - 14:11
know what you think about the things
14:10 - 14:13
that have been happening in the last
14:11 - 14:16
couple of years and what your plans are
14:13 - 14:17
for 2025 and Beyond I read all the
14:16 - 14:19
comments and I really enjoy reading all
14:17 - 14:22
the comments and finding out what people
14:19 - 14:23
are thinking about the current situation
14:22 - 14:26
thanks for watching and I'll see you
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