STOP using Celebrities in Video Games

Baneposting enhanced Quantum Break.

SoloKingRobert said:
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Unironically did nothing wrong.
 
I don't have any problems with celebrity as long as it don't mess with the budget enough to affect the contents, graphics, etc in the game.
 
GTA: San Andreas used professional actors/celebrities and it absolutely worked, for the most part.

I think every project is different but yes, don't rely on pure "celebrity", that's just dumb. At the end of the day just use whichever actor works for that role best.
 
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I agree. I mean publishers and journalists complain all the time about how expensive games are to make. Not having to pay a celebrity for their voice or face would be a very big big cost cut.
 
That's an unreasonable demand. You'd have a considerably easier time getting what you want by simply changing your own purchasing decisions, instead of asking the world around you to change.

I get it. It gets annoying/boring seeing some of the same actors' faces, it's no different than hearing the same recognizable voice actors in so many major releases, especially if they have a limited range.
However, punishing them for doing well enough to find work wouldn't make sense. Why be mad at someone doing their job?
That irritation in this case would obviously be a personal problem. Just play fewer to zero games that feature celebrity actors, and problem solved. You'll be less inclined to complain.

I'd argue your claim about it "killing creativity" is entirely subjective. What you'd consider a creative design decision others might disagree on, and vice versa in this instance.

I'd also argue creativity, in actuality, is the essence of problem-solving.
Using popular actors' likenesses and/or performances has both creative and marketable advantages, as well as disadvantages.
It's simply a means to an end in forming the visual design of a game. Whether or not the execution is done well is another matter and even an arguable one at that.
 
Roxkis_ii said:
Death Stranding, Cyberpunk, Destiny 2, and HFW have been fire.

Has there been trash games with celebrities?
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Cyberpunk's shift to more action adventur title with Keanu is partially responsible for it being so dull and non interactive outside major story beats. It's a big shift from 2018 demo and to it's detriment.

Not that it's a bad game now all patched up, but far from what was promised and possible.
 
StereoVsn said:
Cyberpunk's shift to more action adventur title with Keanu is partially responsible for it being so dull and non interactive outside major story beats. It's a big shift from 2018 demo and to it's detriment.

Not that it's a bad game now all patched up, but far from what was promised and possible.
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I don't think Keanu being in the game caused that shift though. With or without him CDPR probably still wouldn't have been able to make the game they set out to make.
 
ReBurn said:
I don't think Keanu being in the game caused that shift though. With or without him CDPR probably still wouldn't have been able to make the game they set out to make.
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There are some indications of a major pivot though once they decided on more actions and less RPG route.
 
StereoVsn said:
There are some indications of a major pivot though once they decided on more actions and less RPG route.
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I don't disagree. But I think the pivot was most likely because they just ran out of time, were under pressure, and it was faster to just focus more on action and less on fleshing out the complexity of making choices actually matter.
 
If you call for the extremes in an arguments with terms like "destroys", it can undermine your argument and cause others to not take you seriously.
And let's be real, creativity is about more than just how a character look or sound.
As for game developers, no matter what they do, someone's gonna complain. But if it sells, they'll keep doing it no matter how many detractors they have.
 
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Movies should stop hiring actors, and instead spend the money on making CGI people and locations.
 
fart town usa said:
Yea, it's a bit exhausting to see celebrities everywhere. Every ad on YT is Ryan Reynolds trying to sell me a phone or Kevin Hart encouraging me to gamble.

There was a time when celebrities being in commercials was relatively rare, something like a big budget super bowl ad. These people are just everywhere now and it's really off putting, for me at least. Also irritating because they're taking away work from commercial actors or no name actors who want to work in the videogame industry and it's like, you have enough exposure and money, have some self respect and stop whoring yourself out for marketing purposes. It's pathetic.
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There's a remedy for that, use Freetube! ;)
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs said:
OP, you're way over the top.

You could have actually tried to construct a rational argument instead of just shouting hyperbole.

The use of Hollywood talent in gaming is not a bad thing. Not at all. Sometimes it can detract from the quality of the game if the dev and publisher are just trying to make use of Hollywood names in order to detract from poor writing and shit gameplay.

Gaming is not like movies. In movies, a mediocre movie can be elevated to some degree merely by including a popular actor/actress.

In gaming, if your story/writing is shit, and/or if your gameplay is arse, there's no Hollywood actor/actress in the world that can save your abortion from being stillborn into the marketplace.
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There's some grounds to what he's saying: there's little value in saying Phantom Liberty is CDPR's most expensive expansion yet if a good chunk of that money is ending up in the pockets of celebrities selling their likeness and not necessarily spending it on gameplay which is what matters most.
 
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I agree. It pulls me out of the game and makes me aware that I'm listening to that celebrity. It's also a huge expenditure.
 
Wildebeest said:
Keep kidding yourself that the only reason Cyberpunk was a big letdown was because of Keanu.
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I dont agree with that but at same time as much as I like Keanu as actor but he didn't really add much to overall game. Johnny could have entirely original design and we wouldn't lose anything, Keanu is just there for marketing and my opinion it wasn't worth the money.
 
Danjin44 said:
I dont agree with that but at same time as much as I like Keanu as actor but he didn't really add much to overall game. Johnny could have entirely original design and we wouldn't lose anything, Keanu is just there for marketing and my opinion it wasn't worth the money.
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Obviously the only place where money and time was wasted in the development of that game.
 
jshackles said:
Well one of my favorite RTS games has this gem

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The entirety of Red Alert is better because of the Actors they were clearly given the script 5 minutes before they started filming and were only allowed to do 2 takes.

Ohh god the Red Alert games were so good.
I fondly remember playing through them and constantly having to hold my laughter in because I actually cared about the story but the actors were so so camp.


P.S
OP Should play CastleVania Lords of Shadow.
My Roommate heard me playing the game and came into my room to ask, is that Sir Patrick Stewart?
I told him yeah, and he stayed for like an hour or two just so he could hear more narration he literally never plays videogames.

Ex8ZYJw.png
 
Danjin44 said:
I dont agree with that but at same time as much as I like Keanu as actor but he didn't really add much to overall game. Johnny could have entirely original design and we wouldn't lose anything, Keanu is just there for marketing and my opinion it wasn't worth the money.
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How much was Keanu paid?
 
I feel like it works sometimes, but lately they have been kinda bad. You also can't help and think how much it costed them.
 
I agree, but unironically its only ok when Kojima does it. His obsession with western celebrities is kinda funny and it translates into his games oddly very well.

I think cyberpunk would have been better off without keanu, in terms of immersion. Marketing-wise it was genius.
 
Counter argument: every video game is required to have one celebrity and that celebrity must always be Bruce Campbell.
 
I can understand the sentiment, especially when a large chunk of the budget goes to paying an A-list actor to play a role instead of reserving those resources to more meaningful aspects like creating more original story content or expanding gameplay elements in a meaningful way. For example, the upcoming expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 was described by a CD Projekt RED developer back in January as being "the biggest ever DLC" the studio had ever worked on. However, a few days later the studio community director had to clarify on Reddit that this comment was in regard to the allocated financial budget, and not necessarily the scope/length of the expansion. I'm betting they had to break the bank to get Edris Elba to play an important character LMAO. If Phantom Liberty is nowhere near as large as the Blood & Wine, then we know there was a lot of potential budget wasted on something rather meaningless.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/c...-biggest-budgeted-expansion-yet/1100-6510726/
 
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