Ubisoft Invites Fans to Make Music for Watchdogs: The Legion Debate and Its Exploitation



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Screenshot: Ubisoft (Watch Dogs: Legion)

Last week, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt announced on Twitter that his music production company, HitRecord, would associate again with Ubisoft, this time to help the publisher create 10 songs for his next open-world hacker game, Watchdogs: Legion. This immediately revived an old debate on ethics to solicit work for big budget games from fans.

"10 original songs. Made in collaboration for #WatchDogsLegion. By you. Come play with us, "Gordon-Levitt tweeted on July 11. According to the FAQ on the Ubisoft website, the publisher will pay $ 20,000 for the original music that will be played during the game, for example, while driving in the London version of the game. With $ 2,000 per song , the end product will eventually be poured via HitRecord to one of the users of the platform that contributed to the creation.

For example, the Watchdogs: Legion The HitRecord production page mentions the need for a "dark electronic electronic song". Keep this in mind when you contribute! ", We read in the preview of the song project. Hundreds of people have already started posting their first demos.

"Basic innovation in Watchdogs: Legion It's that you can recruit and play like everyone else, and bring them into your resistance, and they can become the heroes of your game, "said creative game director Cling Hocking in a YouTube video about partnership. "When we started to think of it as a theme, then we had the idea that maybe we should work with the fans, the community, and other actors to add value and reflect that. theme in the musical landscape of our world. That's why we went to HitRecord. "

Ubisoft first tried this model with the science fiction game Beyond good and bad 2, which is still in development. He was criticized as a means of replacing paid or contract work with "special" work in which creative workers spend their time and work without knowing for sure whether they will be paid.

"It sucks," tweeted Mike Bithell, developer of Thomas was alone and the next John Wick Hex Thu, under the hashtag "nospec". "Pay people for their work. Stop exploiting fans and hobbyists, while devaluing the work of those who have the gall to wait until the work done is paid consistently. Do better Ubi, we are counting on you. "

"I'm still not a fan of what has been read[s] as a "specific work model under an exclusive non-exclusive open license model", and prefer the "pay someone to browse SoundCloud" model to find cool music for which you then talk to the creator and pay for it too, "tweeted Rami Ismail from Vambleer.

Some creators on HitRecord do not necessarily see it that way, though. "On this platform, we can improve and add our own ideas to certain creations, such as in the studio. It was a very relaxed project for me, "said Alexis Le Borgne, an artist based in France who helped to Beyond good and bad 2 through HitRecord, says Kotaku in DM. For his contributions to the art of Shiva and Ganesha in the game, he was paid $ 993.91.

Denisse Takes, a musician who helped create one of the titles of the game called "Unite Us", does not necessarily disagree with the criticisms of the business model, but says it's the good thing for her. "I do not reject what anyone else believes or feels. Of course, protect others, "said Takes Kotaku in an email. "But when we discuss this topic, I think some people forget that we have personal autonomy as artists. What fills me may not satisfy someone else.

She said that unlike many other HitRecord users, she was first contacted by representatives of the Ubisoft community via her YouTube channel where she covered the development of the game. The company then worked with her to develop the initial demo of the song, which was finally presented to the community in June 2018 so that other people could browse it. For his work on "Unite Us", Denisse finally received $ 566.28.

"I can not talk about what the future holds, but I can tell you that it helped me, which is what has been accomplished in my life, personally," she said. "I immersed myself in this business knowing what I would be paid for, I did not participate because of the money, I went in because I could do it at my ease. back at any time.I could have contributed just a word if I wanted it. "

We asked Ubisoft to respond to the ongoing debate and told us following statement posted on Twitter:

"The Watch Dogs: Legion Audio team is already working with professional artists and composers on more than 140 licensed songs and on an original score of the game. Additional contributions, whether big or small, from All members of the HitRecord community are totally volunteer and aim to give them the opportunity to incorporate their own creative expressions into the game. "

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