ScifiPulse

How bad do things have to be for an entire (small) publishing team to quit rather than to stay with the near endless funding of a billionaire's daughter? The Annapurna Interactive team resigned en-masse today when they couldn't engineer a buyout of Annapurna Interactive from Megan Ellison. That tells me that 25 person unit hopes to go off and build together, without Megan Ellison. Good luck to them. They built the last 8 years of Annapurna Interactive. I'll follow their publishing intent wherever they go. ----- Bloomberg: "Annapurna Video-Game Team Resigns, Leaving Partners Scrambling. Megan Ellison-led firm sees staffers quit after spinoff talks fail." "The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the video-game publishing division of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna studio, resigned this month following a dispute with its owner. Annapurna Interactive President Nathan Gary and his team had been negotiating with Ellison, the daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison, to spin off the video-game division as an independent entity. When Ellison pulled out of the negotiations, Gary and other executives resigned and were followed by around two dozen other staffers. “All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,’’ Gary and the group said in a joint statement. “This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly.” A spokesperson for Annapurna confirmed that it had explored a spinoff and said the parties failed to reach an agreement, which led to the resignations. "Our top priority is continuing to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition,” Ellison said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “We’re committed to not only our existing slate of games but also expanding our presence in the interactive space as we continue to look for opportunities to take a more integrated approach to linear and interactive storytelling across film and TV, gaming, and theater." The exodus has led to chaos as game developers partnered with Annapurna try to figure out what this means for their upcoming projects. As a publisher, Annapurna is responsible not only for funding the games but for handling services such as quality-assurance, adapting the products for local markets and marketing. Over the past few days, game makers working with Annapurna have scrambled to find new points of contact and figure out whether the company will continue to honor its agreements. The spokesperson said that all existing games and projects will remain under Annapurna. New president Hector Sanchez has told developers that the company will honor existing contracts and replace staff who have left, according to people who asked to not be identified because the conversations were private. Sanchez, originally a co-founder of Annapurna Interactive, was brought back last month." Bloomberg: https://lnkd.in/g7A449yP #gameindustry #gamepublishing #annapurna

Horror films haven't seen the kind of major box office dollars in 2024 that we've become accustomed to, but is that really anything to worry about? Huge thanks to Travis Clark for including some of my thoughts in his latest report. “We’ll still see [original hits] because it’s the genre that studios are still willing to take some risk on,” Shawn Robbins, founder of Box Office Theory, told me. Indeed, a movie like “Longlegs” comes out of nowhere, and is almost impossible to predict. Robbins notes that part of the oversaturation could be attributed to last year’s Hollywood strikes. “Studios needed to fill the release calendar, especially early this year when delays from the strikes were still being felt,” he says. Box Office Theory Paul Dergarabedian #BoxOffice #movies #cinema #theaters #film #entertainment #trending #trendingnews #trendingtopic #trendingonlinkedin

After digitally recreating the late actor Peter Cushing's likeness for 2016's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," Disney is being sued for doing so without the imperial commander's express permission. As The Times of London reports, one of the actor's oldest friends, the producer Kevin Francis, has claimed that prior to his death in 1994, Cushing insisted that nobody could reproduce his likeness digitally without his explicit authorization. https://lnkd.in/dwGHucSR #starwars #disney #RogueOne

"Apple successfully killed proposed legislation in Louisiana that would have required the iPhone maker to allow developers who market their apps on the app store to use an alternative payment system by threatening to cancel the making of a Will Smith film in the state, according to a report. In 2021, lawmakers in the Bayou State were keen on approving a bill that would have allowed developers of apps to use alternative payments systems which would have circumvented Apple’s app store." https://lnkd.in/eWvn9X34 #apple

You may have noticed the Game UI Database has been really laggy for the past few weeks. Well, good news! Thanks to server overlord Jay Xavier Peet, they were able to fix the issue by blocking a single IP. Guess who the culprit was? 🙄 Turns out OpenAI has been scraping the site by spamming the front page hundreds of times per second. So not only are they stealing my data, they're effectively DDoSing me in the process. How is this behaviour allowed from a massive organization?? Disgusting. Please give Jay all your thanks for coming to the rescue, as well as for giving the database such a stable and reliable home over the last four years. The site simply wouldn't exist without them!

Where is the Flash Gordon Video Game We Deserve? https://lnkd.in/eYevPk-H

James Darren AKA Vic Fontaine from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Passes Away at 88 https://lnkd.in/evFcQiv3

Jenna Ortega is calling for more female-led franchises over female-led spinoffs. During a recent video interview with MTV while on the publicity tour for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Ortega was asked if she might consider an offer from director Tim Burton to revive “Edward Scissorhands” as the gender-flipped Edith Scissorhands, but Ortega would rather just get to lead a franchise as an original character instead. “I love that there’s a lot more female leads nowadays, I think that’s so special. But we should have our own,” Ortega said. “I don’t like it when it’s like a spinoff — I don’t want to see like ‘Jamie Bond.’ You know? I want to see another badass.” https://lnkd.in/e4QKJr4T

I have a dream that one day, the creative minds of Africa will rise and shine, illuminating the world with their brilliance. Today, I stand before you, not just as Jide Martin, the CEO of Comic Republic and CR Motion+, but as a mentor, a guide, and a proud witness to the incredible journey of many talented individuals. In the heart of Nigeria, we have revolutionized the comic book industry, creating African icons and stories that resonate with millions. But this journey was not mine alone. It was a collective effort, a symphony of creativity and dedication from a team that I hold dear to my heart. Eduvie Martin, Olawale Awelenje, Michael Olasubomi Balogun, Akintoba Kalejaye, Toheeb Ipaye, Eucharia Wanogho, and Tobe Max Ezeogu – these are the names that echo in the halls of our success. Today, I want to focus on one of these remarkable individuals, Tobe Max Ezeogu, who now stands as the Founder and CEO of JUJU GAMES. Many years ago, Tobe approached me with a dream, a vision to start a gaming company. With passion in his eyes and determination in his heart, he sought my blessing. I remember telling him, “You will develop the games for Comic Republic’s IP,” and he said, “Ok.” I assured him that I would be there to support him, and I insisted on being a stakeholder in his newfound venture. Fast forward to today, and we see the fruits of that conversation. CR Motion+ and Juju Games are producing a new game featuring the heroes of Comic Republic. Our IP, over eleven years in the making, has garnered a strong following with over 2.5 million page views monthly on its platforms. Now, Africa truly has its own multi-platform IP, spanning from comics by Comic Republic to live-action adaptations by Universal Studios Hollywood’s UCP, and now animations and games by CR Motion+ and JUJU GAMES. It is a great time to be alive, and it is a great time to be African. Together, we are not just creating content; we are crafting a legacy, a testament to the power of African narratives and the limitless potential of our creative minds. Let us continue to dream, to innovate, and to inspire. The future is bright, and it is animated. Please watch the teaser for our upcoming, groundbreaking game: Hero Generation Underground.

Oh, this is fascinating. ----- The organization behind National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is being slammed online after it claimed that opposing the use of AI writing tools is “classist and ableist.” https://lnkd.in/gER59TtE #nanowrimo #genai #artificialintelligence