Hi everyone! As promised, here is my latest scene created with Unreal Engine 5.5, featuring Lumen, Nanite, and Megalights. This scene was inspired by the tranquility and charm of a winter wonderland, aiming to evoke a s

St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome in a detail fromThe Madonna and Child With Saints The National Gallery, LondonA beautifully restored 16th-century painting is now on public display in London. The tall, narrow altarpiece, calledThe Madonna and Child With Saints (1526-7), was created byParmigianino, a young master who belonged to a subversive artistic movement in the early 1500s: ItalianMannerism.The artwork had been hidden from view since the conservation efforts began ten years ago. LondonsNational Gallery will showcase the painting alongside Parmigianinos sketches as part of its 200th anniversary programming.It will be such a thrill to have this masterwork back on our gallery walls, its visionary qualities once again on display to the public, saysMatthias Wivel, the gallerys curator of 16th-century Italian paintings, in astatement. Parmigianino completed The Madonna and Child With Saints in 1527. The National Gallery, LondonParmigianino, who was born in the Italian city of Parma in 1503, was only 23 when he was commissioned to paint The Madonna and Child With Saints for a chapel of theChurch of San Salvatore in Rome.He was at work on the piece during the 1527sack of Rome, when the armies of Charles Vinvaded the city. According to an account by fellow artistGiorgio Vasari, troops burst into Parmigianinos studio during the invasion, but they were so amazed by what they saw that they allowed him to continue, demanding he make drawings for them in exchange for leaving him unharmed, per the statement.The 12-foot-tall altarpiecealso known as The Vision of St. Jeromeis wild, quirky and gets more subversive the longer you look at it, as theGuardians Jonathan Jones writes. From background to foreground, the painting depicts a haloedVirgin Mary, a youngJesusstanding between her knees,St. Jerome asleep on the ground, andSt. John the Baptist, clad sparsely in animal skins, pointing a crooked finger toward the figures behind him.Parmigianinos unusual depiction of Jerome has been interpreted in numerous ways, as exhibition curator Maria Alambritis tellsArtnets Vittoria Benzine. Perhaps the artist was referencing the Vaticans sculptureSleeping Ariadne, a copy of a second century B.C.E. artwork, or emphasizing Jeromes dream state. Alternatively, as the Guardian writes, Parmigianino may have been referencingCorreggios sensualVenus and Cupid With a Satyr (1524-25), in which the goddess sleeps in a similar position. Mary and Jesus in a detail fromThe Madonna and Child With Saints The National Gallery, LondonIn the whole of art, in all the zillions of altarpieces out there, there cannot be many depictions of religious events as wayward and wacky as this, writes the LondonTimes Waldemar Januszczak.By the 1520s, Renaissance artists like Michelangelo had mastered realism. Parmigianino was part of a new wave of painters who experimented with artifice. These artists became known as theMannerists for their new manner of painting. Theyplayed with proportions, distorted space and exaggerated human anatomy (see Parmigianinos so-called Madonna with the long neck). Per the Guardian, Parmigianino is the most mannered Mannerist of all.The National Gallery will display a selection of chalk and ink drawings Parmigianino made before painting The Madonna and Child With Saints, allowing us all to partake vicariously in his dynamic, fluid and ever-shifting creative process, as Wivel says in the statement. A self-portrait by Parmigianino that showcases his Mannerist style Parmigianino / Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsParmigianino left Rome before his painting was installed, and he spent most of his remaining life in Parma. The piece was hidden for safekeeping and wasnt recovered until long after Parmigianinos death, per the statement. The National Gallery acquired the piece in 1826.The Madonna and Child With Saints has never been a highlight of the gallerys collection. However, according to the Guardian, the recent restoration has upped the paintings starpower: What seemed a mustard-yellow monstrosity has become sharper, brighter. As the Times writes, conservators revealed gorgeous details, such as a funny little cross held by John and streams of heavenly light illuminating the vegetationan abundance of greens.As Wivel says in the statement, I have little doubt that this show will be a transporting experience.Parmigianino: The Vision of Saint Jerome is on view at the National Gallery in London through March 9, 2025.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Art History, Artists, Arts, Christianity, England, Italy, London, Painters, Painting, Religion, Renaissance, Visual Arts

Researchers found that in 2023, a decrease in low-altitude clouds, specifically over the Atlantic Ocean, drove an increase in the planet's temperature. DeAgostini / R. Della Chiesa via Getty ImagesWith an average temperature of almost 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels, 2023 was the hottest year ever registered. But after breaking the record for the hottest day twice in one week this past summerand setting other heat records throughout2024 is now effectively certain to take its place. While factors including greenhouse gases, El Nio and volcanic eruptions likely played a role in the heat last year, researchers say they still dont account for an unexplainable 0.2 degrees Celsius of warming.Now, scientists in Germany have suggested a surprising explanation: declining cloud cover. Their findings were published last week in the journal Science.2023 [took] us by surprise, and 2024 continues to do so, study co-author Thomas Jung, a climate scientist at the University of Bremen, tells CBC News Nicole Mortillaro. And you know, we had some explanations for some of the warming [but] there was this gap, this 0.2 or so degree of global warming that was unexplained. So, the idea was to find out where that was coming from.The team analyzed observational data and weather models from NASA satellites and the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and discovered that 2023 had surprisingly low albedothe amount of solar radiation a planet reflects back into space. Pale-colored surfaces, such as snow and ice, reflect more light. Albedo, appropriately, means whiteness in Latin, as Peter de Kruijff notes for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.But if Earth is reflecting less radiation, that means its absorbing more of it, heating the planet.We had already observed a slight decline [in albedo] in recent years, Thomas Rackow, a scientist and ocean modeler at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, says in a statement. But the data indicates that in 2023, the planetary albedo may have been at its lowest since at least 1940.When the researchers modeled what the average temperature in 2023 would have been without the recent albedo decrease seen since 2020, the result fit like a puzzle piece: The modeled temperature was approximately 0.23 degrees Celsius lower than the real-world one.The researchers then wondered what could have caused the sudden drop in albedo. Though highly reflective snow and ice is declining in the Arctic, our analysis of the datasets shows that the decline in surface albedo in the polar regions only accounts for roughly 15 percent of the most recent decline in planetary albedo, Helge Goessling, a climate physicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute and lead author of the study, explains in the statement.They identified a decline in low-altitude clouds, specifically over parts of the Atlantic Ocean. This trend is consistent with the extreme 2023 temperatures seen in those same regions. Low-altitude clouds, in particular, play a strong role in cooling the planet. While all clouds reflect solar radiation back into space, those at higher altitudes also trap some radiation within the atmosphere. Lower altitude clouds, on the other hand, dont cause this warming effect.It really is quite striking that this, this decrease of the cloud cover, is mostly happening in the lower levels, Goessling tells New Scientists Madeleine Cuff. Unlike high-altitude clouds, low-altitude clouds don't trap much warmth and primarily reflect light. Alfred-Wegener-Institut / Yves NowakNow, the new question is, whats driving the decrease in low-lying clouds? The researchers considered several options. For example, due to recent shipping regulations, the world has seen a decrease in the use of aerosols, which reflect sunlight and sustain cloud formation. Global warming and climate change might also be partially responsible, potentially affecting how low clouds form. The true answer, however, is still unclear.We still do not know for sure that these changes in cloud behavior are not due to short-term variabilitywhich would return to more normal conditions with timeor if they represent a new ongoing change to the climate system, Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth who was not involved in the study, tells NBC News Evan Bush.Either way, if a large part of the decline in albedo is indeed due to feedbacks between global warming and low clouds, as some climate models indicate, we should expect rather intense warming in the future, Goessling says in the statement.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Atlantic Ocean, Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming, Heat, New Research, Oceans, World Records

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn MoreSapient Intelligence, Singapores first foundation model AI startup, has announced the successful closure of its seed funding round, raising $22 million at a valuation of $200 million. Backed by prominent investors including Vertex Ventures, Sumitomo Group, and JAFCO, the company is hoping to carve a distinctive path in AI development, addressing what it sees as fundamental shortcomings in GPT-style models. The goal of the startup, really, is to make a new generation of foundational model architectures to solve really complicated and long-horizon reasoning tasks that are really challenging for large language models (LLMs), especially for GPT architectures, to solve, said co-founder and CEO Austin Zheng in a recent interview with VentureBeat conducted over video chat.New architectures beyond traditional TransformersTraditional GPT-style models rely on autoregressive methods, which generate predictions by building sequentially on prior outputs. While effective for general tasks, this approach struggles with multi-step reasoning and complex problem-solving. With current models, theyre all trained with a autoregressive method, and with that, the benefit is its easier for the model to converge on general task, Zheng explained. So it sounds really smart, so it can solve a lot of different tasks. It has a really good generalization capability, but its really, really difficult for them to solve a sub, complicated and long horizon, multi-step tasks. And thats kind of where hallucination comes in, Zheng said. Sapients answer is a novel model architecture inspired by neuroscience and mathematics, blending transformer components with recurrent neural network structures and mimicking how the human brain works.The model will always evaluate the solution, evaluate options and give yourself a reward model based on that, Zheng said. And also the model can continuously calculate something recurrently until it gets to a correct solution. With that, our our agent will be able to deploy to an environment in an enterprise or production environment, and continuously learn and improve ourselves by trial and error and learn to be an expert on the existing code base.This design underpins the flexibility and power of Sapients models, enabling them to tackle a broad range of tasks with precision and reliability.It also puts them up against the new generation of reasoning models from OpenAI and its o1 series, as well as other Chinese competitors.Excelling in benchmarks and beyondThe companys innovations are reflected in benchmark performance. The first benchmark we use is actually Sudoku, Zheng told VentureBeat. Right now, our model is the best performing neural network in terms of solving Sudoku on the market 95% accuracy without using intermediate tools and data.According to Zheng, while other leading models needed to train on intermediate steps to solve the popular numeric ordering puzzle, Sapient only provided the model with unfinished Sudoko boards, the rules, and the final solutions, and must infer on its own how to solve them through trial and error. Similarly, Sapients models have excelled in tasks like two-dimensional navigation and complex mathematical problem-solving, consistently outperforming competing approaches.Training these models is another area where Sapient distinguishes itself. Unlike traditional models that require vast amounts of high-quality, step-by-step data, our approach needs only question-and-answer pairs. This significantly lowers the barrier for training complex models, Zheng said. By leveraging synthetic data, Sapient reduces the dependency on curated datasets, creating scalable and efficient training pipelines.Practical applications: from code to robotsSapients initial focus is on real-world applications, starting with enterprise coding and robotics. Its autonomous coding agents aim to revolutionize how businesses manage their software development and maintenance needs. The company is already deploying an autonomous AI coding agent in Sumitomos enterprise environments to learn the companys codebase and ultimately, begin maintaining and contributing to it.Sapient aims to offer a similar service to other enterprise clients, what Zheng describes as smart and tailored AI employees and AI software engineers that can help them maintain, update and also grow the existing tech stacks.Unlike Cognitions Devin, powered by GPT-4o, Sapent believes its coding AI agents will be able to work autonomously without any human guiding the process or troubleshooting issues, save for supervisors checking over the work before it is pushed live. The company is also advancing embodied AI, designing models that enable robots to interact, learn, and adapt in real-time. There are only a handful of startups working on understanding of environment, and also planning of options and tasks, and understanding what kind of tasks are possible also continuous, improving itself on understanding the environment, understanding the problem, and understanding the use cases, Zheng pointed out. This will be our main focus for the next 1-2 years.A global visionSapient is setting itself apart not just through technology but also its global and inclusive approach.There are very few AI startups at a foundational model level outside of China actually led by Asian founders, Zheng noted. We really want to position ourselves as an international and research-oriented organization. But also, we want to be one of the first, few Asian-led international research organizations that are solving really, really challenging problems, and were seeing that coming to fruition as well.With offices in Singapore and plans for the Bay Area, the company is building an AI research lab to bring together diverse perspectives and talent.Its team reflects this ethos, comprising scientists and engineers from leading institutions like DeepMind, Anthropic, and Microsoft AI.This diversity, combined with strong partnerships with Japanese investors like Sumitomo Group, positions Sapient as a unique player in the global AI ecosystem.Targeting individuals and enterprisesSapients long-term vision is ambitious, targeting technology that can be applied with equally useful results to individuals and enterprises.The goal at the very end will be to build a truly generalized agent that can actually solve a day-to-day task for our users an all agent solution for a personal assistant and for solving all your tasks..thats where we are in terms of our technological goal and also our direction, Zheng said. This includes future public-facing products like autonomous coding agents and general-purpose personal assistants.For now, Sapient is focused on refining its technology and delivering enterprise-grade solutions. Pricing models are still being explored but may include licensing, subscription fees, or task-based charges tied to successful completions.As Sapient scales its operations and capabilities, it remains a company to watch in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. VB DailyStay in the know! Get the latest news in your inbox dailyBy subscribing, you agree to VentureBeat's Terms of Service.Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.An error occured.

o1 does not reveal its reasoning chain, which makes it difficult to get consistent results and correct the model's responses and logic.Read More

Clear Angle Studios opens new location in Los AngelesCulver City studio has already provided its services for three games industry projectsImage credit: Clear Angle Studios News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on Dec. 10, 2024 3D capture and processing company Clear Angle Studios has opened a new location in Culver City, Los Angeles.Clear Angle, headquartered in Pinewood Studios, provides character scanning, digital facial and environment capture, prop and costume scanning, and other services.It has been supplying studios with its portable scanning units in Los Angeles for some time, and has now established a permanent space in partnership with the Creative Artists Agency Vault a project that uses the firm's capture solutions.This newly established studio has already provided its services for three games industry projects and five film productions."We have seen an increase in demand for our services in LA, in particular to make face and full body scanning more convenient for locally based talent, so it made sense for us to open a permanent hub here," said Clear Angle Studios co-founder and CEO Dominic Ridley."We already have some interesting projects underway from the short time we've been in Culver City, and we're excited for further projects in 2025 and beyond."

Why gaming is India's "new entertainment frontier"Developers and other experts take us through the challenges they face, and how rising player spending is fuelling more ambitious gamesImage credit: Battlegrounds Mobile India by Krafton Feature by James Batchelor Editor-in-chief Published on Dec. 10, 2024 2018 was a pivotal year for the video games industry in India. Smartphones had already been moving towards the ubiquity they enjoy in the West but the launch of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds marked a significant shift for the market.Real-money gaming titles have dominated the Indian gaming market for well over a decade, and continue to do so, but Krafton's multiplayer shooter demonstrated an appetite for different experiences that went beyond the gambling and casual games that typically rule the roost on mobile."That game really changed perceptions and even the market entirely because before that, gaming had been very polarising," explains independent consultant Sameer Desai, whose previous roles include editor of MCV India and country head for THQ Nordic. "For one thing, it was seen as for kids, but on the other hand it was seen as too violent for kids to play. There were games that were popular before Angry Birds, Temple Run, and so on but PUBG came in and suddenly blew up on mobile."That happened around the same time that smartphones and data became cheaper, so that really helped. All of this created the perfect storm. You also had influencers playing PUBG, creating videos in Indian languages, which hadn't really happened before. All that came together, and PUBG became this poster child for what gaming can be in India." Sameer Desai, consultantPre-2018, gaming was "like the Wild West" in India, Desai continues. PC and consoles were available but the cost of entry for consumers was high, which led most to piracy ("You could just browse PS2 games in a store like vinyl records," he says). The arrival of Steam helped somewhat, but the market never grew to the size seen in other markets."It was also a very urban phenomenon because only people who had the disposable income could get into gaming," Desai adds. "It was a luxury, but now gaming is becoming a hobby and people are even looking to make careers out of it."Sharmilee Daru founder of 4WD Gaming, a leading PR agency in India describes the country as "a mobile-first market" but an emerging one with a taste for Western-developed games."A lot of international titles do work here as well, but local developers are now coming up with their own titles, whether they're AAA, casual, or across various categories," she says."There is no doubt the market here is growing. The games industry, the esports industry they're all booming. Gaming is India's new entertainment frontier. I believe revenues will keep building, the number of gamers will keep growing, and we'll see more companies making more games."Daru cites two reports exploring the potential growth for games in India. First, Niko Partners predicts the Indian games market will cross the $1 billion revenue mark next year. Secondly, a recent Lumiaki report forecasts that Indian games revenues will reach $9.2 billion by FY 2029, indicating rapid growth in spending."There is no doubt the market here is growing. The games industry, the esports industry they're all booming. Gaming is India's new entertainment frontier"Sharmilee Daru, 4WD GamingThis has been largely enabled by the introduction of the Unified Payments Interface in 2016. This mobile payment system links directly to the users bank account, and can be integrated into all apps, including games."The openness [to spend] was always there, but it was the modes of payment. Indians are not very comfortable using their credit or debit cards online," Desai explains. "The moment we had UPI, it made it much simpler. Even Western games like Valorant allow you to easily buy in-game using UPI you barely leave the game, it's very seamless. Valorant is now said to be making $2 million a month in India which might not sound like much, but here that's a lot."It still remains an issue on consoles, you can still only pay on card on those, whereas Steam also has UPI built in now. [But] the player counts were there even though the revenues were not. The moment that changes is when India will really start propelling the industry."What do Indian gamers play?While player spending is expected to rise, little of that revenue is expected to go directly to Indian games companies. The vast majority of popular games are from overseas titles like Valorant, Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga, and Free Fire by Singaporean dev Garena. Sharmilee Daru, 4WD GamingBut the success of PUBG or Battlegrounds Mobile India, the version developed specifically for this market has inspired a wave of developers to make their own midcore shooters, such as the upcoming FAU-G Domination a deathmatch game set in India and developed by Mumbai studio Dot9 Games. And Daru is confident that a domestic game will make its way to the upper echelons of the charts."There are great numbers of gamers, but the real revenue percentage increase will happen when there are local games getting in there and users start spending on these games," she says."I hope there's going to be a local game that does well soon. India is nearly there. You never know which game it could be, but once a great game makes it to the top, the entire ecosystem will benefit."Indian gamers' tastes are varied. Anime is hugely popular across the nation, so naturally Genshin Impact and MiHoYo's other titles have been a hit. On the other hand, Japanese RPGs are less popular and genre flagship Final Fantasy didn't really take off in India until it moved to real-time combat. Cricket video games are also massive even more so than in Australia, according to one panelist at India GDC 2024.India's console and PC players are significantly fewer than mobile users. Indie developer and analyst Rishi Alwani says the "numbers aren't where they should be based on the population" and estimates console and PC only represent 10% of the Indian market. But this crowd is increasingly aware of what is popular in other markets and seeks out those titles; for example, Black Myth: Wukong was popular among console and PC players in India."PUBG became this poster child for what gaming can be in India"Sameer Desai, consultantDesai adds: "Any games that are not heavily into narrative will do just fine in India without localising it. That's why PUBG, Valorant, and Fortnite do so well. Even games like God of War, you'll see YouTubers translating the story into Hindi for those who want to play it, so some IPs still do well even though they're story-based games."Real-money gaming such as casino-type games where players hope to win cash prizes still dominates the market. However, there has been a noticeable shift towards midcore and action games like the aforementioned shooters. Alwani says there are two factors behind the rise of midcore games."First, we have cheap data," he says, referring to how costly it used to be to download larger games. "It's relatively easy for someone to download a 1GB file because data prices are relatively low."Secondly, smartphone prices have trended lower and even if you're spending the same amount, you're getting more bang for buck. We're seeing a lot of devices [where] you have enough storage. If you look at a game like BGMI or Free Fire, which are at least 1GB downloads, you don't have a problem with that."Despite the small audience for console and PC players in India, many indies still target these devices in the hopes of reaching a global audience. Chirag Chopra is founder of Lucid Labs, a studio that has previously specialised in premium mobile games but is now moving towards console, PC, and even virtual reality. Western games light on narrative, such as Valorant, have proven to be popular in IndiaWhile it is much easier to make games for these platforms today, he notes that getting attention for them is increasingly tough especially as there isn't much of a traditional games media scene in India."It's all about cold emailing [global sites], getting in touch with folks like you and just asking, 'Hey, would you like to write about us?'" he says.This also increases the pressure for Indian indies to attend international events like GDC and Gamescom, but the costs of doing so can be prohibitive."As an indie, bootstrapped studio with hardcore frugal values behind us, we don't visit a lot of events," Chopra says. "We only visit them when we have a set agenda, like meeting publishers or platform holders. If it's just to showcase [the game], for us it doesn't make sense because we can't afford to be at the event just for those purposes."Finding the fundsChopra adds that securing finance from Indian investors and funding programs can be difficult because most of them "don't get games.""The challenge is to tell them why this is a multi-billion industry, and that's been going on for three, four years. It has been improving, but not at a rate you would expect." Chirag Chopra, Lucid LabsSimilarly, there is little in the way of government support for games companies compared to other markets, with Chopra reporting there are no "direct channels between your studio and government." But various Indian games developers are working to change that."We've realised that the problem is not that the government doesn't want to support us, but [that] they don't know how this industry functions," he explains. "We need people working directly with them, not only bridging the gap but translating all the jargon into a language they understand."That's why progress has been slow. It's not like Europe where you can show a prototype to Creative Europe and get a grant. Those kinds of things don't exist here, but chances are they might very soon."Chopra also observes there aren't many Indian success stories for studios to learn from. Alwani adds that developers who do produce a hit are known to share their lessons, either via LinkedIn or local events such as India GDC, but by and large there's a lack of deeper knowledge to help grow the development scene."If you gave everyone $10 million, or even $50 million, chances are they wouldn't know what to do with it," says Chopra. "Just getting the money is not the only thing we lack. There are no AAA studios here, there are no AA studios. The ones we have are mostly into mobile, live ops, and all that. How do you even make a AAA open-world game? It's not as simple as just setting up enough people."Desai notes that major games publishers do have some presence in India. EA has premises in Hyderabad, but it's mostly for testing and live operations. Rockstar's studio in Bengaluru is said to provide much of the GTA developer's art assets, while Zynga's office in the same city handles both art and live ops."The challenge is to tell [the government] why this is a multi-billion industry, and that's been going on for three, four years. It has been improving, but not at a rate you would expect"Chirag Chopra, Lucid LabsUbisoft, meanwhile, has two studios in Mumbai and Pune which handle a mix of production, quality control, and business support, as well as auditions and filming of dancers for the Just Dance series.And Desai believes these companies lay the foundation for future growth in India's development scene."Eventually, I think people who work in these studios will branch out and create their own games, like what has happened in other markets," he says. "We're probably five or so years away from that happening."Another challenge India's games industry faces concerns the talent pipeline. Various developers tell us there's little to no universities or colleges that offer games-specific courses. Those who can afford such an education often study abroad, and those that can't are self-taught thanks to the abundance of tutorials for Unity, Unreal, and so on.There is also increasing support from ID@Xbox and PlayStation's India Hero Project means indies have more opportunities to work directly with platform holdersTargeting IndiaWhen it comes to releasing games in India, there are several things publishers need to know. Firstly, as we highlighted, this is a mobile-dominated market with a very small console/PC presence. Secondly, pricing requires a very different approach."A $5 purchase for someone in London is not the same as for someone in India," says Chopra. "For us, a $5 purchase probably means the entire game. Localised pricing is a no brainer. There's a reason why both Apple and Google came up with a three rupee purchase ($0.03) [for in-game transactions]." Rishi Alwani, Masala GamesDesai agrees, noting that games that are $70 in the West are more likely to be $40 in India."That's important to follow," he adds. "A lot of publishers don't follow that, they use the same pricing for the whole world. That's an easy thing to fix."With 23 languages spoken across India, localisation might seem like a daunting task but all the developers we spoke to assure us that English penetration is so high that this is not essential. Nor is culturalisation, although it is appreciated.India is considered to be a country within Asia-Pacific, but Desai warns publishers that the market is so diverse and different to other APAC nations that any strategy they typically apply to the whole region won't necessarily work. Instead, he advises adopting India-specific policies."We have 28 states," he says. "When you cross borders from one state to another, often the language changes, the cuisine changes, the way people dress, what festivals they celebrate it really is like multiple countries. But we've all been bundled into one and companies are like 'Well, this is India.' Actually, there's a lot of diversity within the country. Which is why India can't fall under APAC, because there are at least five cultures here so it does require a different approach."Correction: This article previously quoted Desai as saying Valorant was generating $2 million per year in India. This has been corrected to per month

Justin Carter, Contributing EditorDecember 10, 20242 Min ReadImage via People Can Fly/Square Enix.At a GlanceEarlier this year, People Can Fly laid off 30 employees on Project Gemini and canceled Project Dagger.Outriders developer People Can Fly is making layoffs and putting one of its game projects on hold.In a statement from the company, CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski explained it was "suspending or parting ways with" over 120 employees working on the unannounced 'Project Bifrost.' The studio is also restructuring some of its support teams and fully pausing development on 'Project Victoria' in an effort to "reduce our self-publishing strategy."According to Wojciechowski, "external market pressures persisted beyond our forecasts... and we have to adjust to where things are today." He affirmed People Can Fly's belief in its various projects, but admitted it needs to "tailor our plans to our financial capacity."Going forward, he said the studio is focusing on a single independent game, and pursuing new work-for-hire opportunities.The rocky year for People Can FlyVictoria is the latest project from the Polish developer to be set aside. In late April, People Can Fly canceled 'Project Dagger' after re-analyzing its development plans. The end result was a writedown of nearly $20 million in production costs.This is also its newest round of staff cuts: it started off 2024 by laying off over 30 developers from the Square Enix-backed 'Project Gemini.'Last year, People Can Fly revealed it opened a Montreal studio to increase production on a triple-A project, and entered a work-for-hire deal with Microsoft. At the moment, the status of the latter (dubbed 'Project Maverick') is unknown, as are Gemini and Bifrost after these recent cuts.Wojciechowski concluded the statement by stressing the studio's focus on "approaching this moment with compassion and to ensure our team feels supported as we work together to build a stronger future.""In this hard moment, our dedication to excellence and creativity remains strong as ever," he wrote. "For everyone who loves what we create: we will not give up on our dreams."Read more about:LayoffsAbout the AuthorJustin CarterContributing Editor, GameDeveloper.comA Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.See more from Justin CarterDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Justin Carter, Contributing EditorDecember 10, 20242 Min ReadImage via Xsolla.At a GlanceThis marks Xsolla's fourth development academy after previously established ones in Busan, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan.2024 is almost over, and Xsolla is still establishing game development academies across the world.The game commerce firm recently teamed with telecommunications firm StarNest and the Innovation and Digital Development Agency (IDDA) to create an academy and incubator program situated in Azerbijan. Beginning next year, developers, game designers, and studios based in the country will receive "specialized training, mentorship from international gaming leaders, and access to financial and technological resources."Yevgeniya Bikmurzina, the innovation ecosystem head for the IDDA, indicated teaming with Xsolla and StarNest would lead to "extensive opportunities for implementing joint projects that will drive the development of Azerbaijan's gaming sector."In its announcement, Xsolla also outlined plans to further build a regional headquarters in the country's capital city Baku, further serving as a "hub for innovation and technology" that provides extra support to developers in Central Asia. IDDA will also be on hand to provide "strategic oversight" and ensure Xsolla and StarNest's aims align with Azerbijan's national goals for digital transformation.Xsolla academies are in sessionThroughout the year, Xsolla has worked with governments and tech companies in areas like Uzbekistan, Busan, and Saudi Arabia to build academies for their local developers. As with those regions, the StarNest Academy will turn Azerbijan into a "global hub for game development" and "create pathways for Azerbaijani talent to showcase their work on the global stage."According to the company's global partnerships SVP, Rytis Joseph Jan, the partnership "represents a significant milestone for Xsolla as we collaborate with Azerbaijani leaders to unlock the regions potential. By combining our global expertize with the visionary leadership of our partners, we aim to empower the next generation of talent in Azerbaijan and drive meaningful innovation with global impact."More information on the Xsolla StarNest Academy can be read here.About the AuthorJustin CarterContributing Editor, GameDeveloper.comA Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.See more from Justin CarterDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Learn To Make Games in Godot 4 Humble Bundle / News / December 10, 2024 / Godot, HumbleThe GameDevTV Learn to Make Games in Godot 4 Humble Bundle has returned, but for only 2 days on Humble Bundle. In this rerun of the earlier bundle there is now only one $25 USD tier:Godot 4 Shader Course: Craft Stunning VisualsMaster Mobile Game Development with Godot 4 Course: From Concept to App StoresGodot Game ControllerComplete Godot 2D Course: Develop Your Own 2D Game Using Godot 4Complete Godot 3D Course: Develop Your Own 3D Games using Godot 4Godot 4 C# Action Adventure Course: Build Your Own 2.5D RPGGodot 4 Multiplayer Course: Make Your Own Online Game EARLY ACCESS3D Dungeon Tiles & Asset PackArcane Accessories 3D Asset PackDungeon Expedition Essentials 3D Asset PackYou can learn more about the Learn to Create Games with Godot 4 by GameDevTV Humble Bundle in the video below. Using links on this page pays GFS a small commission if used (and thanks so much if you do!).