Expert Technical Animator (Tools)ActivisionMalmö 21122 Sweden1 hour agoApplyJob Title:Expert Technical Animator (Tools)Requisition ID:R025072Job Description:Elsewhere Entertainment is looking for an E xpert Tools Technical Animator to join in the development of a new IP. Feed your creativity while collaborating with our team of highly skilled developers to build something innovative, exhilarating, and expansively entertaining !We're searching for a skilled Technical Animator with a specialization in tooling and pipelines, ready to make an impact on AAA game development. You bring a history of tackling extensive and intricate challenges related to content creation, pipeline optimization, and groundbreaking visuals. Join our team and help shape the future of gaming with your expertise .You’ll help us by …Develop, maintain , and refine animation tools and pipeline across multiple DCC packages (Autodesk Maya, Motion Builder) .Proactively seeking to find innovative solutions for technical challengesParticipate in code reviews and help drive development of excellent tools for producing next-generation AAA animation s and systems.Collaborate with animation engineers on improving run-time capabilities .Document tools and workflows in a user-friendly way .Collaborate with different disciplines both inside and outside animation .Having a clear idea of how our product should function and the ability to share this vision with your peers and other stakeholders.Mentoring and collaborating with fellow team members of the team.You ’re awesome because you have …At least 8 years of experience as a Technical Artist or in a similar role focused on DCC tool creation.Proven track record in a complete production cycle of a commercially released game or similar long-term project experience.Proficient in UI coding in frameworks like PySide , PyQt , or similar .Experience working in a multi-platform, multi-project environment.Understanding of mathematical principles used in 3D animation.Knowledge of software engineering principles and patterns.Excellent problem-solving skills and creative thinking.Experience in initiating and developing new concepts to completion.The ability to collaborate and thrive as part of a creative team.Bonus points for …Knowledge of C++ and C# programming.Experience with advanced Qt (or other UI frameworks) features.Familiarity with package management and deployment systems like Rez and PyPI .Proficiency with in-engine animation systems.Experience with character rigging.Background in animation for games or VFX.Demonstrated ability to lead teams and to coordinate work with other domains.Not sure you meet all the qualifications ? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! At Activision, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.Our WorldAt Activision, we strive to create the most iconic brands in gaming and entertainment. We’re driven by our mission to deliver unrivaled gaming experiences for the world to enjoy, together. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, Crash Bandicoot™, Tony Hawk’s™ Pro Skater™, and Guitar Hero®. As a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and products, our “press start” is simple: delight hundreds of millions of players around the world with innovative, fun, thrilling, and engaging entertainment experiences.We’re not just looking back at our decades-long legacy; we’re forging ahead to keep advancing gameplay with some of the most popular titles and sophisticated technology in the world. We have bold ambitions to create the most inclusive company as we know our success comes from the passionate, creative, and diverse teams within our organization.We’re in the business of delivering fun and unforgettable entertainment for our player community to enjoy. And our future opportunities have never been greater — this could be your opportunity to level up.Ready to Activate Your Future?# elsewhere Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. Apply

Senior Analytics Engineer - Ad-networkVoodooParis1 hour agoApplyFounded in 2013, Voodoo is a tech company that creates mobile games and apps with a mission to entertain the world. Gathering 800 employees, 7 billion downloads, and over 200 million active users, Voodoo is the #3 mobile publisher worldwide in terms of downloads after Google and Meta. Our portfolio includes chart-topping games like Mob Control and Block Jam, alongside popular apps such as BeReal and Wizz.TeamThe Voodoo Ad-Network team is an autonomous product of around 30 people that carries the ambitious mission of providing ad network services. One goal is to leverage Voodoo’s first party data to improve Voodoo’s monetisation. Moreover the product is growing through new ventures like opening to external inventory, reaching external advertisers market and social network monetisation through BeReal recent acquisition. Thanks to promising results, our ambition is now to further scale up the team to support growth.The product is composed of top-tier software engineers, infrastructure engineers, data engineers, mobile engineers, and data scientists.The Models team is a core element of the targeting performance. It leverages machine learning and a strong business understanding to directly impact the product financial performance. It’s composed of mostly seniors Data Analysts, Analytics Engineers, Data Engineers and Data Scientists/ML Engineers that iterate together on finding and building the next performing iteration.The role requires to be onsite in our Paris office 3days/week.RoleBuild and structure the Models team data pipelines.Improve our pipelines quality through better practices, data tests, task scheduling, code reviews and codebase organization.Acquire a global product understanding and build data pipelines to promote new machine learning and data analytics use cases.Help our most ambitious data pipelines handle the required scale, refresh rate or latency constraints.Improve our development and integration flow.Help us develop our CI/CD pipelines, and our tooling.Make proactive recommendations to improve on the bottlenecks you've identified.Acquire an understanding of machine learning to maximise the applicability of your actionsBe a link with Voodoo Engineering Analytics Engineers team and exchange on tools and best practicesWork in an agile environment with a fast decision process.Collaborate directly with people working on back-end development, data science, mobile games, broad audience mobile apps, product & marketing.Our StackDBT ⧫ Athena ⧫ Terraform ⧫ Spark ⧫ Amazon Web Services ⧫ Kubernetes ⧫ CircleCI ⧫ Airflow ⧫ TableauProfileExtensive experience as an Analytics Engineer or another similar roleUnderstanding of data lakehouse design and optimizationUnderstanding of how to achieve efficient and robust data modelingMaintain comprehensive documentation to propagate best practices and share product knowledgeExcellent communication skills, with ability to understand and communicate on both business or technical topicsKeep up-to-date with the latest data technologies and methodologies ensuring our team remains at the forefront of data engineering, data visualization, data tools, and infrastructure innovation.Familiarity with scalability, reliability, and security topicsUnderstanding some of the challenges involved in running ML models in production will be valuedBenefitsCompetitive salary upon experienceComprehensive relocation package (including visa support)Swile Lunch voucherGymlib (100% borne by Voodoo)Premium healthcare coverage SideCare, for your family is 100% borne by VoodooChild day care facilities (Les Petits Chaperons rouges)Wellness activities in our Paris officeUnlimited vacation policyRemote days Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. Apply

StarCraft 2 hackers are reportedly exposing unsuspecting players to horrific footage of a real-life shooting as well as videos featuring bright flashing lights, seemingly designed to trigger seizures. While Blizzard is investigating, it seems this has been happening for nearly a year or more.Suggested ReadingThe Week In Games: Dark Knights And Dark Princes Share SubtitlesOffEnglishSuggested ReadingThe Week In Games: Dark Knights And Dark Princes Share SubtitlesOffEnglishThe Week In Games: Dark Knights And Dark PrincesOn April 20, a StarCraft 2 player shared a story about a hacker injecting a video of a mass shooting into the game while they were playing online. Reddit user Tad0422 explained that this happened while playing a map in StarCraft 2's Arcade, a feature of the sci-fi RTS that lets players upload custom-created maps and modes to play with others. While playing with some friends, the group encountered some “rando” players. About 3 minutes [later] a video appeared on my screen,” claimed Tado422. “I have never seen this before but it took up the whole screen. It was a Russian pop video or something that played for 20 seconds or so. Most of us were talking in chat about what the heck was happening.”Tado422 further explained that, shortly after the first video, a second video appeared. This one showed a man entering a store and shooting people in the head. “At this moment I freaked out and hard closed out of StarCraft 2. My 5 year old daughter was in the room with me, half paying attention to me playing a video game. This is beyond unacceptable. I should never have to worry about seeing people murdered or porn while playing a SC2 game.”Tad0422's post blew up on Reddit and led to many other SC2 players sharing their stories about similar hackers injecting annoying or graphic videos while people are playing the game. I reached out to Tado422 and they shared with me a replay of the match that was hacked by someone. They also made it clear that this isn’t an issue with the Arcade map they were playing or the creator of that mode. It appears to be a larger exploit within StarCraft 2's Arcade Mode. You can find others reporting similar incidents with screenshots, too. As reported by 404Media, some players shared stories of seeing swastikas while playing. Another user claimed they were hit with an “epileptic screamer” video designed to trigger seizures using flashing images and light. These types of problems with hackers hijacking maps and modes in Arcade have been reported by StarCraft 2 players for at least a year now. Kotaku reached out to Blizzard. The company says it is aware of the situation and is currently working to “fix” the exploit. Here’s the company’s full statement: “We are investigating a player claim that disturbing content that violates our policies appeared in a game. We take the safety of our players and our platform very seriously and are working to fix the exploit we believe might have been used to upload this content.” .

For nearly as long as Bethesda has been making big open-world RPGs, there have been dedicated modders tweaking, updating, and improving these games. So it’s a bit odd that Bethesda’s recently released remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion doesn’t officially support modding.Suggested ReadingDragon’s Dogma 2’s New Class Is A Twirling Death Machine Share SubtitlesOffEnglishview videoSuggested ReadingDragon’s Dogma 2’s New Class Is A Twirling Death Machine Share SubtitlesOffEnglishOn April 22, following years of rumors, leaks, and reports, Bethesda officially unveiled gaming’s worst-kept secret: BethesdaAs spotted by GamesradarOblivion’s remaster was launched, on Bethesda’s official support page for the game the company blunty says the game doesn’t support mods. “Mods are not supported for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.”Now, if you know anything about modders, you likely know that nearly every PC game eventually gets some mods, and I doubt Oblivion Remasteredproviding a pipeline that lets modders bring their creations to more platforms, Bethesda seems to understand that modders are going to do their thing and figure out ways to mod Oblivion, even without tools or the company’s official blessing. So it included this message on its Oblivion“If you are experiencing gameplay issues while playing with mods, it’s recommended you first try uninstalling your mods, then verify your games files on Steam, or the Xbox App.”As for why Bethesda isn’t supporting mods this time around, I’m not sure. Perhaps the fact that this remaster uses Unreal and old Bethesda tech made it too technically challenging to create a modding kit for creators? Or perhaps it plans to add mod support later, but wants to make sure the game is in a solid state post-launch before doing so? I don’t know. But for now, modding The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is going to be a trickier than it was with past Bethesda titles.  .

Momotaro Dentetsu is an iconic Japanese franchise featuring boardgame-style play where players travel to acquire properties and build wealth. The first game in this beloved series was released in 1988, and more than 20 titles have been added since.Momotaro Dentetsu World, the latest iteration in the franchise, was released a little over a year ago. It was the first Momotaro Dentetsu console game made with Unity, so we sat down with Noriaki Okamura, the senior producer of the franchise for Konami Digital Entertainment. In this Q&A, he explains why they brought their game to Unity to, as he puts it, “pass this franchise on to the creators of the future.”Why did you want to add another development team to this game series?To pass on the Momotaro Dentetsu franchise to the next generation of developers. The first Momotaro Dentetsu game was released in 1988. Since then, we have released more than 20 works in about 35 years. Of course, the fundamentals such as game systems and game balance are well established, and we’ve used these fundamentals to create new titles. It’s the “secret recipe” of the franchise.It was Mr. Sakuma, the original creator, who developed the secret recipe over the years. As the game creator, Mr. Sakuma has spent a huge amount of time creating each game based on a secret recipe of his own making, repeating detailed adjustments each time, and that’s the development style of the classic series.But even if there’s a secret recipe, the same quality can’t necessarily be guaranteed if creators other than Mr. Sakuma imitate this approach. For this reason, we felt we needed to establish a development team that could produce titles in the Momotaro Dentetsu franchise, consisting mainly of young developers who would be the next generation of leaders in the franchise, without being dependent on Mr. Sakuma.The director of Momotaro Dentetsu World is Mr. Shoji Masuda, who worked as assistant supervisor on the classic series for many years. Mr. Masuda is a veteran game creator who said that he took on directing this title to unpack the classic series’ development methods and hand them over to younger creators.In other words, Momotaro Dentetsu World passes on the secret recipe that Mr. Sakuma created over its 35-year history to the next generation of creators, to rebuild the secret recipe in them so that the franchise can continue 30 or 50 years into the future.Momotaro Dentetsu World is the first console game title to be developed using Unity. Why did you decide to use Unity?Looking to the future, I felt that we needed a development environment that would be easy for anyone to create in. I also wanted to create the game in a game engine so that it would be easier to port to a variety of platforms.For example, right now there are no plans to develop a mobile app version of Momotaro Dentetsu World, but since it’s being developed in Unity, it could be released in the future without significant resources. So I think if we were to consider developing the mobile app version, it would also lower the decision barrier for us.Please tell us about any Unity features that you have particularly used or found useful in your production.The first thing I can mention is ScriptableObjects. Adding this feature to the database has made it much easier to manage large numbers of assets, such as stations and cards, and the parameters associated with them.The next one that comes to mind is the C# Job System. The game has a magnifying glass function that allows the player to see detailed information about each station. When the player uses this function, many objects are projected onto the screen, and this caused a high rendering load, which was a concern. So we implemented multi-threaded code for this game using the C# Job System to stabilize the frame rate. We also benefited from the fact that Unity allows detailed animation settings using ST values for material colors and textures, so we were able to express the sea as we imagined it at a low cost.Others that helped us save time were the capability to access the model being previewed, extract the FBX, import it into Maya, and adjust its position and size in Maya, as well as the capability to preview and instantly review the prefab as it was being created.Looking back on the production of this work, what were the advantages of using Unity?I think the advantage of Unity is that it is widely used by many developers. Most of the staff working on this project had experience in Unity development in the past, so it was a great advantage that we could communicate with them very easily.Now that Momotaro Dentetsu can be developed with Unity, you can flexibly develop various publications in the future, right?Yes. This franchise has a long history. As mentioned earlier, the first title in the franchise was released in 1988, so the secret recipe passed down from generation to generation is not even developed in C++, but in C.We have created franchise titles while utilizing and improving upon this secret recipe, and now we have chosen to break down and port it to Unity. The reasons for this and the benefits are as I have explained, but we don't believe that we have yet built a robust system that can be utilized even 50 years from now.

The potential for transmedia success with a strong IP feels infinite. Case in point: In December, Boss Fight, a Netflix Games Studio, released the mobile game Squid Game: Unleashed in advance of the second season of the powerhouse series, and it reached the No.1 Top Free Games spot in 107 countries on the App Store.This multiplayer party royale offers dynamic, player-driven challenges where alliances, betrayals, and survival instincts are put to the test in ever-changing, high-stakes games inspired by classic childhood activities. Players are invited to immerse themselves in this world and are kept on edge by having to make strategic decisions with psychological depth and potentially dire consequences.We sat down with Todd Batty, director of game development at Boss Fight, a Netflix Games Studio, to learn how the team took a beloved series known for its tension and excitement and successfully turned it into a thrilling mobile game.Let’s start from the beginning. How did this project come about?As soon as Boss Fight became a part of Netflix, we started ideating around what we wanted to make next. We’re all huge supporters of Squid Game and we heard over and over from fans that they all wanted to see what it would be like to try their hand at the infamous squid games.From that point, there were lots of discussions about how to bring this to life in-game. We were drawn to the party royale genre because it not only allows players to experience Red Light, Green Light, Dalgona, Mingle, and more, but it also gives fans the chance to play with or against their friends as opposed to a single-player narrative game.When you began developing the game, what was the team hoping to achieve?Our goal was to build a game that was representative of the Squid Game universe, but in a way that felt fresh and approachable. While the show has a dark, high-stakes atmosphere, we wanted to create a game that kept that competitive energy but was a bit lighter in nature so that people could feel comfortable being immersed in our world for long periods of time. In short, we wanted to make dying… fun!What were key elements from the television series that had to be included in the game?The most important aspects to retain were the distinct visual style and the core premise of competing in children’s games with life-or-death consequences. It was important that we put the player into the games as a competitor. These elements define Squid Game at the broadest level and had to be an essential part of the experience.What steps did you take to incorporate them?The game was in conceptual development for quite a while before full production began. During that time, we immersed ourselves in the world of Squid Game and spent a lot of time refining both the art direction and gameplay mechanics.The challenge was to create a game that felt exciting and social while avoiding going too deep into the heavier, more sinister elements of the show. We wanted to strike a balance – keeping enough of Squid Game’s tone to feel authentic while making sure the game could be enjoyed regularly by millions of players.At Netflix, since we’re making series, films, and games under the same roof, we were able to collaborate with the Squid Game series team earlier in the process than most adaptations are able to. We got scripts early, visited the creative team and sets in Korea, and even tapped into other expansions of the squid universe, like Squid Game: The Challenge. This all resulted in a more authentic experience that could launch right alongside season two of the series for a better fan experience.Getting deeper into the game’s development, how did the team make the most out of Unity?Boss Fight has been working with Unity for many years and has a long history of shipping products with it. For this game, we used the Universal Render Pipeline (URP), Shader Graph, and the Cinemachine camera system. There was also ProBuilder for environment prototyping, TextMeshPro for fonts, the Input System for gamepad support, and Timeline for cutscenes and visual effects.When it came to animation, we connected Playables in data evaluation trees to create level flyovers, and we worked with NVIDIA PhysX to trigger ragdoll physics.Additionally, using Nested Prefabs and Variants allowed the team to work asynchronously in scenes or other prefabs in our source control. We employed Unity Search for more detailed searches and for finding prefabs that were missing required components or had incorrect tagsFor performance optimization, the Adaptive Performance and Quality settings were essential for us to hit device tiers, FPS, and thermal goals. The Frame Debugger helped us find draw calls, sneaky extra cameras, disabled prefab layout objects, and canvas layout and Particle System issues. The Memory Profiler’s snapshot comparison was also very beneficial for finding excessive string and object allocations.Overall, I highly recommend taking part in a Unity Project Review. It offers further insights and best practices to improve your game.What were some unexpected lessons learned and opportunities granted during development?The inclusion of weapons, which is somewhat new to this particular genre, had a more profound impact on gameplay than I think even we expected. Baseball bats led to snowballs and shields, which led to mystery boxes, and ultimately to the ability to goaltend from the Finish area by killing people still trying to finish the game. This all felt particularly relevant and appropriate for a Squid Game recreation.We were also extremely excited to be able to work in a couple of firsts for Netflix – things that only we can do. We made the game available to everyone for free with no ads or in-app purchases. By removing the need for a Netflix subscription, players were able to invite their friends and express their fandom at the height of the series’ popularity, with or without a membership.Additionally, since Netflix offers series, films, and games on the same service, we were able to automatically give players in-game rewards for every episode of season two they completed. Within hours of the series debut, we saw fans flaunting their exclusive ‘binge watcher’ skin, indicating they had already watched the show and came back to the game to play.Now that the game is out, what should fans of the series expect?We’re all about bringing the high-stakes thrill of Squid Game into a fun, fast-paced, and socially unpredictable experience. Every round should feel intense, forcing players to make split-second decisions in chaotic mini-games.At the same time, it’s super easy to jump into whether you're a casual player or a hardcore competitor. There’s something for everyone. And the social element? Huge. Alliances will form, trust will be tested, and betrayal is always on the table.We’re also in it for the long haul – expect new challenges, events, and surprises to keep things fresh and exciting.Based on the rise of transmedia success, what is your advice for developers looking to turn a television series or movie into a video game?The key to adapting a video game to any type of IP, from a television series to a sporting league to a movie or comic book, is to figure out what the must-have elements are for the biggest fans of that IP. You need to deliver on those as perfectly as possible and then let everything else go so you still have some room for creative license. If you don’t draw that line with intent somewhere, it will inevitably get drawn for you somewhere unintended when you run out of time.Want to learn more about performance optimization? Check out the Optimize your game performance for mobile, XR, and the web in Unity e-book.

In Brief Posted: 1:35 PM PDT · April 22, 2025 Image Credits:Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch OpenAI exec says the company would buy Google’s Chrome browser if offered the chance An OpenAI exec said during Google’s antitrust trial this week that OpenAI would be interested in buying Google’s Chrome browser, were it made available for sale. The executive, ChatGPT chief Nick Turley, said in a court hearing Tuesday that acquiring Chrome would allow OpenAI to “offer a really incredible experience” and “introduce users into what an AI-first [browser] looks like,” per Bloomberg. Turley had been called by the Justice Department to testify as part of a trial aimed at determining what business practices Google must modify after a judge found the company monopolized the online search market. The Justice Department has asked that Google be forced to divest Chrome. OpenAI has reportedly considered working on a web browser to compete with Chrome. The company went so far as to hire ex-Google developers Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher, who worked on the original Chrome project, several months ago. Topics

A China-based startup, Sand AI, has released an openly licensed video-generating AI model that’s garnered praise from entrepreneurs like Microsoft Research Asia founding director Kai-Fu Lee. But Sand AI appears to be censoring images that might raise the ire of Chinese regulators from the hosted version of the model, according to TechCrunch’s testing. Earlier this week, Sand AI announced Magi-1, a model that generates videos by “autoregressively” predicting sequences of frames. The company claims the model can generate high-quality, controllable footage that captures physics more accurately than rival open models. Magi-1 is too impractical to run on most consumer hardware. It’s 24 billion parameters in size, and requires between four and eight Nvidia H100 GPUs to run. (Parameters are the internal variables models use to make predictions.) For many users — this reporter included — Sand AI’s platform is the only place they can test drive Magi-1. The platform needs a “prompt” image to kick off video generation. Not all prompts are permissible, TechCrunch quickly discovered. Sand AI blocks image uploads of Xi Jinping, Tiananmen Square and Tank Man, the Taiwanese flag, and insignias supporting Hong Kong liberation. Filtering appears to be happening at the image level; renaming image files didn’t skirt the blocking. Sand AI’s online platform throws an error message when it detects a likely prohibited imageImage Credits:Sand AI Sand AI isn’t the only Chinese startup preventing uploads of politically sensitive images to its video generation tool. Hailuo AI, Shanghai-based MiniMax’s generative media platform, blocks photos of Xi Jinping as well. But Sand AI’s filtering appears to be particularly aggressive; Hailuo allows images of Tiananmen Square. As Wired explained in a piece from January, models in China are required to follow stringent information controls. A 2023 law forbids models from generating content that “damages the unity of the country and social harmony” — that is, counters the government’s historical and political narratives. To comply, Chinese startups often censor their models, either through prompt-level filters or fine-tuning. Interestingly, while Chinese models tend to block political speech, they often have fewer filters than their American counterparts for pornographic content. 404 recently reported that a number of video generators released by Chinese companies lack basic guardrails that prevent people from generating nonconsensual nudity.

Open-source data orchestration gets a major rewrite to help support inference and enterprise AIRead More