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[Puscifer]

They take way more money than normal VA actors most probably.

Yeah, but considering it's like what, 250-500K with the budgets of modern games this is basically nothing for an A lister and it's more of a passion project at that point.

 

[Roni]

There are no grounds for what he's saying.

Using big-name acting talent doesn't take anything away from the game. It doesn't negatively impact story/narrative or gameplay.

And a game's budget has no meaningful correlation with it having good gameplay. So given that spending more on developing gameplay systems won't automatically = better gameplay, why the hell as gamers should we care what publishers choose to spend their marketing budget on?

Game development is iterative, what are you on about?

 

[hyperbertha]

This is one of the stupidest things I've ever read.

Hey, portrait artist, you suck because you aren't working from your imagination!! Wut?

No he has a point. Is Drake from uc based on any real life actor? Or what about the mgs games? They are all imaginary designs. Taking a well known actor breaks immersion.

 

[hyperbertha]

The Resident Evil Remakes and Devil May Cry have used celebrities......like basically every major character is a celebrity did that detract from your enjoyment of the games?
Seems you enjoy the RE:Makes?

They are not celebrities like Norman reedus. Just models. And Leon's model looks practically exactly like the original Leon so it's kinda okay.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I don't care what studio or publisher wants to be, this only destroys the budget and destroys creativity.

I don't buy that at all. Some of the best games have celebrities. Just go look at the original Blood Omen for instance. It's got Simon Templeton and Michael Bell and Tony Jay and Anna Gunn (Walter White's wife) and the later games had Rene Auberjonois.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Game development is iterative, what are you on about?

Yes, game development is iterative, but a bigger gaming budget does not directly correlate with a higher-quality game.

If you actually believe the claim that it does then I have a bridge in Cyprus to sell you.

There are more than enough examples of AAA games that are shit, plus games in development hell with multiple years of development that launched to critical and commercial failure....e.g. Crackdown.

Games need enough time for the dev to achieve their vision. But scope management and tight creative and technical leadership are way more important to game quality than just throwing more budget (=time and/or contractors) at the problem... just ask Microsoft Game Studios.

 

[Henry Panic]

I don't care what studio or publisher wants to be, this only destroys the budget and destroys creativity.

Someone hasn't played Crackdown 3. Celebrity was it's only saving grace lol.

 

[Roni]

Yes, game development is iterative, but a bigger gaming budget does not directly correlate with a higher-quality game.

If you actually believe the claim that it does then I have a bridge in Cyprus to sell you.

There are more than enough examples of AAA games that are shit, plus games in development hell with multiple years of development that launched to critical and commercial failure....e.g. Crackdown.

Games need enough time for the dev to achieve their vision. But scope management and tight creative and technical leadership are way more important to game quality than just throwing more budget (=time and/or contractors) at the problem... just ask Microsoft Game Studios.

Games are built by people who receive wages. These cost the company developing the game. If a decision at the beginning of the project allocates money to hire a celebrity to play a character in the game that lightens the purse when it's time to plan the development timeline. The same green money is used to pay the actors and the developers. More pre-production time, more production time, more polish time, you name it, costs cash the company already elsewhere.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

But he was great

 

[20cent]

Troy Baker

I keep seeing this name popping up here and there for years, after some googling I've never seen that man, or his performance never made me remember him.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Games are built by people who receive wages. These cost the company developing the game. If a decision at the beginning of the project allocates money to hire a celebrity to play a character in the game that lightens the purse when it's time to plan the development timeline. The same green money is used to pay the actors and the developers. More pre-production time, more production time, more polish time, you name it, costs cash the company already elsewhere.

Game budgeting is not a zero-sum game as you seem to think.

Publishers don't allocate a single pot of money to finance a game project and when it's done there's no more. In reality, games don't have a fixed budget. They have an estimated budgetary cost for development, then a separate marketing budget---out of which shit like celebrity VAs is paid.

Then the project gets executed against project milestones and the final project cost is tallied up at the end. The project costs whatever it costs, and the project manager's performance is measured against how close to the estimated budgetary costs the final project cost landed.

VA is also something that started well into the full production of the game, so no publisher is cutting back on their dev schedule to accommodate more expensive voice talent. That's such a dumbass argument I can't believe you guys are still trying to push it as credible. It's absurdly obtuse.

 

[Roni]

Game budgeting is not a zero-sum game as you seem to think.

Publishers don't allocate a single pot of money to finance a game project and when it's done there's no more. In reality, games don't have a fixed budget. They have an estimated budgetary cost for development, then a separate marketing budget---out of which shit like celebrity VAs is paid.

Then the project gets executed against project milestones and the final project cost is tallied up at the end. The project costs whatever it costs, and the project manager's performance is measured against how close to the estimated budgetary costs the final project cost landed.

VA is also something that started well into the full production of the game, so no publisher is cutting back on their dev schedule to accommodate more expensive voice talent. That's such a dumbass argument I can't believe you guys are still trying to push it as credible. It's absurdly obtuse.

We're arguing about the same thing, except I'm bringing the people who split the marketing/development budget into the conversation.

 

[AlphaMale]

I totally agree with OP. I absolutely hate having celebrities in games. It actually repels me from playing them.
I have yet to play Death Stranding and was very hesitant on Cyberpunk 2077. After having finish Cyberpunk, I don't feel that adding Keanu Reeves added anything to the game. They coulda just saved a tonne of money and used a generic character in that same role.