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Epic has a plan for the rest of the decade

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Epic has a plan for the rest of the decade

Just over a year ago, Epic Games laid off around 16 percent of its employees. The problem, Epic said, was its own big ideas for the future and just how expensive they were to build. “For a while now, we’ve been spending way more money than we earn,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote in an email to staff.

On Tuesday, onstage at the Unreal Fest conference in Seattle, Sweeney declared that the company is now “financially sound.” The announcement kicked off a packed two-hour keynote with updates on Unreal Engine, the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, the Epic Games Store, and more.

In an interview with The Verge, Sweeney says that reining in Epic’s spending was part of what brought the company to this point. “Last year, before Unreal Fest, we were spending about a billion dollars a year more than we were making,” Sweeney says. “Now, we’re spending a bit more than we’re making.”

“The real power will come when we bring these two worlds together”

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Sweeney says the company is well set up for the future, too, and that it has the ability to make the types of long-term bets he spent the conference describing. “We have a very, very long runway comparing our savings in the bank to our expenditure,” ​​Sweeney says. “We have a very robust amount of funding relative to pretty much any company in the industry and are making forward investments really judiciously that we could throttle up or down as our fortunes change. We feel we’re in a perfect position to execute for the rest of this decade and achieve all of our plans at our size.”

Epic has ambitious plans. Right now, Epic offers both Unreal Engine, its high-end game development tools, and Unreal Editor for Fortnite, which is designed to be simpler to use. What it’s building toward is a new version of Unreal Engine that can tie them together.

“The real power will come when we bring these two worlds together so we have the entire power of our high-end game engine merged with the ease of use that we put together in [Unreal Editor for Fortnite],” Sweeney says. “That’s going to take several years. And when that process is complete, that will be Unreal Engine 6.”

Unreal Engine 6 is meant to let developers “build an app once and then deploy it as a standalone game for any platform,” Sweeney says. Developers will be able to deploy the work that they do into Fortnite or other games that “choose to use this technology base,” which would allow for interoperable content.

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The upcoming “persistent universe” Epic is building with Disney is an example of the vision. “We announced that we’re working with Disney to build a Disney ecosystem that’s theirs, but it fully interoperates with the Fortnite ecosystem,” Sweeney says. “And what we’re talking about with Unreal Engine 6 is the technology base that’s going to make that possible for everybody. Triple-A game developers to indie game developers to Fortnite creators achieving that same sort of thing.”

If you read my colleague Andrew Webster’s interview with Sweeney from March 2023, the idea of interoperability to make the metaverse work will seem familiar. At Unreal Fest this week, I got a better picture of how the mechanics of that might work with things like Unreal Engine 6 and the company’s soon-to-open Fab marketplace to shop for digital assets.

Fab will be able to host assets that can work in Minecraft or Roblox, Sweeney says. But the bigger goal is to let Fab creators offer “one logical asset that has different file formats that work in different contexts.” He gave an example of how a user might buy a forest mesh set that has different content optimized for Unreal Engine, Unity, Roblox, and Minecraft. “Having seamless movement of content from place to place is going to be one of the critical things that makes the metaverse work without duplication.”

But for an interoperable metaverse to really be possible, companies like Epic, Roblox, and Microsoft will need to find ways for players to move between those worlds instead of keeping them siloed — and for the most part, that isn’t on the horizon.

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Sweeney says Epic hasn’t had “those sorts of discussions” with anyone but Disney yet. “But we will, over time,” he says. He described an ideal where companies, working as peers, would use revenue sharing as a way to create incentives for item shops that people want to buy digital goods from and “sources of engagement” (like Fortnite experiences) that people want to spend time in.

“The whole thesis here is that players are gravitating towards games which they can play together with all their friends, and players are spending more on digital items in games that they trust they’re going to play for a long time,” Sweeney says. “If you’re just dabbling in a game, why would you spend money to buy an item that you’re never going to use again? If we have an interoperable economy, then that will increase player trust that today’s spending on buying digital goods results in things that they’re going to own for a long period of time, and it will work in all the places they go.”

“People are not dogmatic about where they play”

“There’s no reason why we couldn’t have a federated way to flow between Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite,” Epic EVP Saxs Persson says. “From our perspective, that would be amazing, because it keeps people together and lets the best ecosystem win.” Epic sees in its surveys that “people are not dogmatic about where they play,” Persson says.

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Of course, there’s plenty of opportunity for Epic, which already makes a widely played game and a widely used game engine and is building Fortnite into a game-making tool. (And I haven’t even mentioned how Unreal Engine is increasingly used in filmmaking and other industries.) The end state sounds great for Epic, but Epic also has to make the math make sense for everyone else.

And it has to do that without much of a presence on mobile. The company has spent years in legal battles with Apple and Google over their mobile app store practices, and it just sued Samsung, too. The Epic Games Store recently launched on Android globally and on iOS in the EU, but thanks to restrictions on third-party app stores, the company’s game store boss, Steve Allison, tells The Verge that reaching its end-of-year install goal is “likely impossible.” Any major change could take quite a while, according to Sweeney. “It will be a long battle, and it will likely result in a long series of battles, each of which moves a set of freedoms forward, rather than having a single worldwide moment of victory,” Sweeney says.

There’s one other battle Epic is fighting: Fortnite is still hugely popular, but there is waning interest — or hype, at least — in the metaverse. Sweeney and Persson, however, don’t exactly agree about the term seemingly falling out of popularity.

“It’s like there’s metaverse weather,” Sweeney says. “Some days it’s good, some days it’s bad. Depends on who’s doing the talking about it.”

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Lego’s website was hacked to promote a crypto scam

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Lego's website was hacked to promote a crypto scam

People who visited Lego’s website on the evening of October 4 were welcomed by a banner with illustrated golden coins bearing the company’s logo, claiming that the “Lego coin” is now officially out. It even promised “secret rewards” to those who’d buy some. But Lego wasn’t truly launching an official cryptocurrency coin, and according to The Brick Fan, the button to buy led to an external cryptocurrency website selling “LEGO Tokens” with Ethereum. The website was, seemingly, hijacked by bad actors who switched its banner and used it for some sort of crypto scam.

As users on the Lego subreddit have noted, the incident happened overnight for Lego’s headquarters. The company responded relatively quickly, though, and removed the unauthorized banner and links. As of this writing, the Lego Fortnite collaboration banner is back up, and the “buy now” link leads to the collection. Lego told Engadget that no user accounts were compromised and that it has identified the cause of the issue. It also said that it was implementing measures to prevent anything similar from happening again in the future. However, the company has declined to share details about that “cause” or the measures it’s implementing.

Here’s the company’s official statement:

“On 5 October 2024 (October 4 evening in the US), an unauthorised banner briefly appeared on LEGO.com. It was quickly removed, and the issue has been resolved. No user accounts have been compromised, and customers can continue shopping as usual. The cause has been identified and we are implementing measures to prevent this from happening again.”

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Fed rate cuts should favor preferred stocks, Virtus fund manager says

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Fed rate cuts should favor preferred stocks, Virtus fund manager says


A place for "preferred" stocks

One financial firm is trying to capitalize on preferred stocks – which carry more risks than bonds, but aren’t as risky as common stocks.

Infrastructure Capital Advisors Founder and CEO Jay Hatfield manages the Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (PFFA). He leads the company’s investing and business development.

“High yield bonds and preferred stocks… tend to do better than other fixed income categories when the stock market is strong, and when we’re coming out of a tightening cycle like we are now,” he told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.

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Hatfield’s ETF is up 10% in 2024 and almost 23% over the past year.

His ETF’s three top holdings are Regions Financial, SLM Corporation, and Energy Transfer LP as of Sept. 30, according to FactSet. All three stocks are up about 18% or more this year.

Hatfield’s team selects names that it deems are mispriced relative to their risk and yield, he said. “Most of the top holdings are in what we call asset intensive businesses,” Hatfield said.

Since its May 2018 inception, the Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF is down almost 9%.

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#shorts Review tủ rack kỹ thuật 10U

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Look North World recreates Hasbro titles in Fortnite, starting with Clue

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Look North World recreates Hasbro titles in Fortnite, starting with Clue

UGC game studio and publisher Look North World announced today it is partnering with Hasbro to bring three of the latter’s board games to Fortnite. Specifically, Look North World will recreate the games as islands via UEFN, allowing players to enjoy recreations of the familiar gameplay. The first game it’s adapting is Clue, which launches today as the island Murder Mystery: Clue. Other islands based on Guess Who and Connect Four are planned to launch later in October and December, respectively.

Murder Mystery: Clue uses Fortnite’s assets to recreate the essential elements of Clue. Gameplay takes place in timed rounds, where players vote on maps and are then assigned the roles of Killer, Detective, or Guest secretly. Each player has their own agenda and win conditions — presumably the Killer’s is to do the slaying in a particular fashion while the Detective’s is to discover their dastardly deeds.

Eugene Evans, SVP of digital strategy and licensing at Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, said in a statement, “Bringing our classic games into new mediums like Fortnite is a key strategy as we continue to grow our digital games portfolio through both licensing and internal development. We start with games that have attracted fans for decades, and when we partner with a studio like Look North World, we know they understand the essence of what makes these games resonate with players.”

Hasbro has found success licensing its board games for digital experiences — Scopely’s Monopoly Go, for example, continues to grow and expand its dedicated audience. It’s also worked with Look North World in the past, participating in its funding in July.

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Alex Seropian, Look North World’s CEO, said in a statement, “Look North World moves at the speed of culture to deliver the experiences gamers want, on the platforms where they are already playing and creating. We are excited to work with Hasbro, a brand that understands the power of user-generated content as a unique opportunity to connect with passionate gamers. Hasbro is embracing community-driven trends—bringing iconic games like Clue, Guess Who and Connect Four into the spaces where players are most engaged.”


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SoCreate wants to transform screenwriting software with AI imagery and community sharing tools

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SoCreate wants to transform screenwriting software with AI imagery and community sharing tools

Many screenwriters have embraced modern tools over traditional PDFs to craft their film or TV show pilots. SoCreate, the latest entrant in the screenwriting software arena, is challenging established players like Final Draft and Celtx with its fresh approach to storytelling. And, notably, generative AI imagery is involved.

SoCreate offers many of the same features that most screenwriting software offers, such as templates to easily create an industry-standard screenplay with correct formatting. However, founder and CEO of SoCreate, Justin Couto, believes popular platforms are still lacking, particularly when it comes to visual and creative tools.

“When I decided to go to college, I found myself gravitating towards film, which meant I needed to dive into the art of screenwriting. I immediately found the process to be dull and uninspired. It was like, we’re writing for a visual medium for movies and TV, but I have to use this archaic black-and-white document with outdated formatting based on the typewriter? I knew there had to be a better way — a more visual, fun, creative way,” Couto told TechCrunch.

SoCreate thinks one of its big selling points is its image uploader tool for screenwriters to incorporate visual concepts into their scripts, including characters, settings, and action moments. Users have the option to upload their own images or select from SoCreate’s gallery of illustrations.

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Soon, users will be able to use an AI-powered image generator to create imagery, which will be powered by a combination of models, including OpenAI, Stable Diffusion, and others. It’s important to note that SoCreate has no plans to offer AI-generated writing tools. The image generator is solely to inspire users while writing and make the process less monotonous. 

Image Credits:SoCreate

Another standout feature is “Storyteller,” which the platform launched earlier this week. Storyteller is a dedicated hub where users can share their stories in a public library for others to read. This new feature is reminiscent of Wattpad, allowing a community of readers to access scripts for free, written by both established and aspiring writers.

The company believes Storyteller will help aspiring screenwriters market their work more effectively, building a public, “visually stunning” portfolio without needing Hollywood connections that aren’t readily available. 

However, some screenwriters may prefer not to make their scripts public for fear of being plagiarized. Users have the option to keep their work private on SoCreate, and the platform uses encryption. Additionally, there is a strict policy against plagiarism. It’s always advisable to register your work with organizations such as the Writers Guild of America or the U.S. Copyright Office.

“My personal theory and this is not legal advice, is that publishing your work online publicly protects you from plagiarism in many ways; you have timestamped proof that you were the original writer of the work and hundreds or thousands of eyes on the work that saw it on SoCreate first. A PDF doesn’t really give you that,” Couto argues.

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Couto envisions Storyteller to become more than just a reading experience. In the future, it’ll add the ability to include AI-generated character voices, sound effects, and background music. Final Draft’s latest update includes an option where users can assign characters’ voices to read the script. 

Image Credits:SoCreate

In addition, readers can leave comments under scripts, giving them the ability to provide instant feedback when previously screenwriters were accustomed to exporting to PDF and emailing it. Users can share a link to any part of their story, from a single piece of dialogue to the entire thing, and readers can write their notes or suggestions without needing a SoCreate account.

Another standout feature is Reading Stats, letting screenwriters see if someone actually read their story, where they stopped reading, how long they spent reading, and where they left comments. 

The platform is mainly catered to people writing movies, TV shows, and short films. However, the company is also exploring templates for articles, novels, and short stories, broadening its reach to more creatives. 

“Once we nail narrative storytelling, we’ll move into new verticals, including business, education, journalism, lifestyle, and research. As readership grows, we’ll add subscriptions to access the SoCreate library, and creators will have a new opportunity to earn from their work through revenue-sharing with SoCreate,” Couto said. 

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SoCreate launched last May and has garnered over 1,200 subscribers. Of its users, the platform says that some are writers who produced work for Amazon, Disney, Marvel, and Netflix. It also runs pilots and other programs with select high schools in California and Illinois. 

The platform is free for all users, but if they want to access the custom image tool and reviewer stats, they will have to spend $10/month for the Professional subscription. There’s also a Personal tier for $5/month, which includes unlimited projects and access to SoCreate’s image gallery. 

The company closed a $3 million pre-seed round last year and is currently raising a $5 million seed round that will be used for development and marketing.

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HP Server Rack and Stack – Service

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HP Server Rack and Stack - Service



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