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Darth

Fortnite adds new NPCs with AI voices but they’re not like Darth Vader

by admin June 11, 2025

Fortnite has introduced two new AI-controlled NPCs that can interact with players in the game’s LEGO mode, Brick Life, but they’re very different compared to the controversial Darth Vader.

Epic Games surprised the entire community when they first introduced AI-powered Darth Vader in the previous Star Wars season. This wasn’t just a typical, run-of-the-mill NPC that like all those that have previously appeared in the game, as this version of the character could actually talk to the player.

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AI Vader could do all sorts of things, like giving advice and answering all kinds of questions, leading to a lot of amusing situation. Thus, within a short time, he quickly became a fan favorite.

Of course, that was before some started to make him utter swear words or say horrible things. Despite the AI situation eventually sparking a union lawsuit, however, devs have now added more AI NPCs in-game with a catch.

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Fortnite adds two new AI NPCs in LEGO Brick Life

In the latest update, two new AI NPCs, namely Noir and Slurp Leviathan, were added to LEGO Brick Life.

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epic games / dexertoYou can choose to mute the AI NPC if you’d like in Fortnite’s LEGO Brick Life.

Although they essentially use the same AI technology as Darth Vader in Battle Royale, one thing that sets them apart from the Star Wars villain is that they communicate differently. With Darth Vader, players could use their microphones to speak directly to him and get a reaction.

However, Noir and Slurp Leviathan will only react to you when you do certain actions, such as using emotes or even giving them a gift. In my own experience, I can confirm they even addressed me as Superman when I used his skin.

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Looking at how these new AI NPCs work in Brick Life, it’s clear that Epic has lessened the risk of them saying some wild things due to players triggering them by talking in a certain way or asking inappropriate questions.

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No swears were said in the appreciation of your dance moves 💃 Noir was just really excited about you choosing to go with the feelin’ royal emote he didn’t enunciate the ‘n’ in ‘royal flush of funk’ properly

— LEGO Fortnite (@LEGOFortnite) June 8, 2025

Still, one person claimed they had managed to catch one of them swearing, as seen in a clip, but Epic denied this by writing: “Noir was just really excited about you choosing to go with the feelin’ royal emote he didn’t enunciate the ‘n’ in ‘royal flush of funk’ properly.”

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These AI NPCs will only be around in Brick Life until June 12, 2025, and if you’d like to find them, you’ll need to head to the south of Cozy Paws Cafe for Slurp Leviathan and Mourndale Academy for Noir.

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June 11, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Fortnite gives players Darth Vader AI tech to build talking NPCs

by admin June 3, 2025

Epic just gave Fortnite creators the same AI tech that powered Darth Vader’s controversial debut.

When Fortnite’s Darth Vader started talking, things went downhill fast. The AI-powered NPC voiced with permission from James Earl Jones’ estate, cursed, glitched, and set off alarms. Union actors cried foul. SAG-AFTRA filed a complaint. And suddenly, Epic was at the center of a digital rights battle.

However, during the State of Unreal showcase, Epic had a different narrative, claiming the Darth Vader AI NPC is an example of Fortnite and Disney “responsibly embracing emerging technologies.”

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So now they’re letting players do it too.

Fortnite will let you create your own AI NPC

During the showcase, Epic dropped the mic: the AI tools behind Vader will soon be in players’ hands.

A live demo showed how creators can build their own AI-powered characters with personalities, voices, responses, and even game-changing behaviors using a device called “Persona” in UEFN (Unreal Editor for Fortnite).

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The star of the demo is an AI-powered NPC, Mr. Buttons, a cosmic weirdo who is clearly based off of Portal’s Wheatley. His one goal was to convince players to press a glowing red button.

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“What brings you to this spectacular catwalk, my friend?” Mr. Buttons asked, oozing surreal charm.

The player hesitated. “What does the button do?”

“A gateway to glory… a symphony of – well, you get the idea,” replied Buttons, dodging the question.

It wasn’t scripted. The conversation ran live, powered by a large language model generating unscripted, reactive dialogue in real-time. Just 20 lines built Mr. Buttons.

The AI didn’t just talk, it changed gameplay too. Pressing the button triggered a cascade of effects designed by the creator. And it wasn’t all chaos.

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(segment begins at 1:51:51)

Epic emphasized that devs can tightly control NPC personality, tone, and story direction through editable “facts” and prompts in code.

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They pitched it as storytelling evolution. “As game developers, our job is to entertain players, and AI is ultimately a tool to make games more fun and immersive,” they said during the demo. “It enables infinite possibilities for two-way dialogue, just like we saw with Darth Vader.”

In Fortnite’s future, the lines between player and playwright are gone. And your NPC might just insult you, then beg you to blow up the map.

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June 3, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Epic’s AI Darth Vader tech is about to be all over Fortnite

by admin June 3, 2025

The gaming company announced the forthcoming feature called the Persona Device on Tuesday at its State of Unreal 2025 event. Epic Games explained that the new feature will be available through the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, giving players the power to equip their NPCs with voice prompts, knowledge, goals, personalities, and more when the new feature arrives “later this year.”

Andrew Grant, vice president of the creator platform, and game designer Andrew Ruffini demonstrated the Persona Device in a live UEFN Fortnite tech demo, where they programmed a snarky and demanding AI-powered NPC named Mr. Buttons. “We’re taking what we learned from Darth Vader and sharing the underlying technology with the creator community,” Epic said during the presentation.

As Mr. Buttons attempted to get the player to press a button, the Epic Games brass conversed with the artificial intelligence, demonstrating the AI’s wide range of emotions and reactions possible through the tech.

Epic Games first unleashed AI Darth Vader in May, powered by a digitally altered voice from the late James Earl Jones. And while the bot’s purpose, personality, and language were intended to match Vader’s legacy, the programming’s objective was quickly undermined.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Epic Games rolls out the Persona Device and puts more AI power into the players’ hands. And, with how the Darth Vader situation transpired, there is bound to be even more AI-powered controversy.

Check out the full State of Unreal livestream below.

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June 3, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

‘Star Wars’ From Darth Maul’s Perspective Sounds Fascinating

by admin May 29, 2025

When Obi-Wan Kenobi cut Darth Maul in half over 25 years ago, most of us thought that was it. Maul was clearly one of the coolest and most interesting Star Wars characters ever, but George Lucas chose to kill him. However, as fate would have it, the character has now come back time and time again, in large part due to Lucas’s protégé Dave Filoni, and soon, we’re gonna get way more of him than we ever thought possible.

Maul: Shadow Lord, a new animated series, was announced at Star Wars Celebration Japan last month and it’ll bring the former Sith Lord back to the forefront in a big, big way. Speaking with fellow Star Wars star Katee Sackhoff, voice of Maul Sam Witwer revealed a few broad clues about what we can expect from the show, including how Maul perceives the plan formulated by his former master, Darth Sidious.

“This is a guy who knew that the Empire was coming, and he was part of that,” Witwer said on The Sackhoff Show. “He was supposed to be part of the Clone Wars. He was supposed to work with his master, and they were going to bring about the destruction of the Republic and the destruction of his hated enemy, the Jedi Order. He was raised to hate them. He trained his whole life to destroy them. Well, now we have a show where, OK, all of that was done, but Maul, yeah, you killed a bunch of Jedi during the Clone Wars, but you did not work with Sidious. You didn’t know the whole plan. And in fact, you got so scared about his plan that you tried to stop it at the last second.”

“Now the Empire’s here, which Maul would have known that that was his master’s intent,” he continues. “But now that he’s seeing it, he’s like, ‘Is this what he had in mind? Because this isn’t what I thought it would be…’ Maul comes from a time of swords and sorcery and magic and knights and now all of that color is being sucked out of the universe by this mechanized empire. And Maul’s like, ‘Is this right? Is this the universe that we were trying to build?’”

That’s fascinating, is it not? Seeing the grand plans of Emperor Palpatine through the eyes of someone who worked with him before Darth Vader. Before Count Dooku. Before Grand Moff Tarkin or Grand Admiral Thrawn. Someone who was there at the beginning and is now confused about what he thought the plan was, and what it ended up being.

But, as Witwer explains, that’s kind of the aim of Maul: Shadow Lord.

“It truly is a show about bad guys versus worse guys,” he said. “And our bad guys are still bad guys. This isn’t going to be a show where you go, oh, you find out Maul is just a real teddy bear, man. He’s just misunderstood… But the idea is, in fact, that even though he’s a bad guy, is he as bad as Sidious or Vader? And the answer is actually no. From the Sith perspective, this guy has flaws. And these flaws are… the humanity that seeps in at various points. And some of this is humanity he did not have maybe early in Clone Wars. But because of things that happened to him, he’s rethought a lot of things.”

Rethinking things is part of what is making Maul: Shadow Lord work too. Witwer explained that, as he was working with Filoni on Clone Wars and Rebels, they’d come up with ideas for Maul that they loved, but couldn’t fit in the show. Now, all those ideas are coming back.

“There were ideas that I had back in Clone Wars that I would present to Dave, or even in Rebels,” Witwer said. “And I also know things that Dave wanted to do. And Dave would go, ‘We’re going to cut this part out of the script that I have that I like so much because this isn’t Maul’s show.’ Or I’d say, ‘Dave, what if this happens?’ And he goes, ‘It’s not Maul’s show. You can’t go into that little level of detail. We’re seeing this from Ezra’s perspective or Ahsoka’s perspective.’ And every time he said, ‘This isn’t Maul’s show,’ it never occurred to me that Maul could have a show. So I just took those ideas and I’m like, well, I guess we’ll never see that. And now he’s like, well, it’s Maul’s show.’”

You can watch the full clip below and keep an eye out for Maul: Shadow Lord in 2026.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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May 29, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Fortnite Criticized For Use Of AI Darth Vader, More Top Stories

by admin May 24, 2025

Screenshot: Cilvanis / YouTube, Naughty Dog / Kotaku, Ubisoft / Kotaku, Epic / Lucasfilm / Kotaku, Image: Atlus, Wizkids / Reddit / Larian Studios, The Pokémon Company / Kotaku, CD Projekt RED, Sandfall Interactive, GameStop / Kotaku

This week saw Fortnite targeted by SAG-AFTRA for its use of an AI-powered Darth Vader voice that mimics that of the late James Earl Jones. Also, the folks behind Assassin’s Creed Shadows told us why they opted not to let you kill animals in the open-world adventure, fans of Clair Obscur react to the trollish behavior of the game’s enemies, and Neil Druckmann is once again explaining stuff about the world of The Last of Us that some fans, at least—our writer included–think would be better left ambiguous.

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May 24, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Fortnite’s AI Darth Vader hasn’t just created problems for Epic by being Jedi mind-tricked into saying bad words, it’s led SAG-AFTRA to file an unfair labour practice charge

by admin May 20, 2025

Late last week, Fortnite got a Darth Vader chatbot you can squad up with and have stilted AI-powered conversations that use James Earl Jones’ actual voice. It’s not just said a bunch of stuff it wasn’t supposed to – it’s now led the SAG-AFTRA union to file unfair labour practice charge.

If you weren’t around last week, Epic quickly had to issue a patch to the bot – which has been made with the approval of deceased Vader VA Jones’ family – not long after it was released into the wild, because players had managed to get it to say stuff it shouldn’t. You know, swears, slurs, and chatter about breasts.

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Fast forward to last night, when voice acting union SAG-AFTRA issued a statement on the AI Vader bot, challenging Epic on it being a thing and revealing that it’s filed an unfair labour practice charge with the US National Labour Relations Board.

“We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of those legacies and renowned roles,” the union wrote, acknowledging Jones’ estate having approved the bot, “However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader’s iconic rhythm and tone in video games.

“Fortnite’s signatory company, Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I. technology. Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms. As such, we have filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB against Llama Productions.”

VG247 has reached out to Epic for comment.

So, we’ll have to see what, if anything comes of the union challenging Llama Productions over allegedly not providing it notice of its plans to use AI to create AI Vader. It’s yet another chapter in the union and many voice actors’ efforts to secure protections against the use of AI to mimic voices, which it’s been argued presents an existential threat to their profession.

After all, as the union argues here, getting another actor to deliver voice lines for Fortnite Vader that sound like Jones would have been an alternative option to using AI her. Though as I’ve said, Epic and Llama did secure the right permission from those representing the AI-emulated actor’s interests.

How do you feel about AI Vader? Let us know below.

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May 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Video game voice actor union takes Fortnite’s Darth Vader chatbot to court

by admin May 20, 2025

Video game voice-actor union SAG-AFTRA are launching a legal case against the presence of generated AI voice-acting for Darth Vader in Epic’s battle royale Fortnite. They’re accusing the company’s subsidiary Llama Productions of using AI to “replace the work of human performers” – or at least, of replacing human performers without first haggling out terms with the union.

The AI-voiced Vader character was added to Fortnite last week, in collaboration with the family of James Earl Jones, the original voice of Darth. Track down and recruit him and you’ll be able to take turns generatively bantering with Fauxnakin. Needless to say, the addition has proven a hit among the furiously masticating hamsters of social media. Also needless to say, players have swiftly worked out how to bait DAIrth VAIder into dropping F-bombs
and slurs, though at the time of publication, Epic appear to have addressed this in a patch.

Now, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have filed an unfair labour practice charge against SkAIwalker Senior with the US National Labor Relations Board.

“We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of those legacies and renowned roles,” the union wrote in a statement. “However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader’s iconic rhythm and tone in video games.

“Fortnite’s signatory company, Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I. technology,” it continues. “Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms. As such, we have filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB against Llama Productions.”

The court document itself claims that Llama Productions have “failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union by making unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilizing AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work on the Interactive Program Fortnite”.

SAG-AFTRA – who represent a spectrum of workers across the media and entertainment sphere – have often gone to bat with the video games industry over the usage of human voice-acting to “train” bots, and the potential replacing of voice-acting in games with genAI. Following a lengthy negotiation over AI protections with the likes of GTA 6 publisher Take-Two and Call Of Duty household Activision, they called a strike last July in the name of “fair compensation and the right of informed consent”. The strike continues. Some video game voice and performance artists have, however, criticised SAG-AFTRA for striking deals with individual genAI companies.

All this forms part of the wider, on-going debate about the ethics and legalities of generative AI – our Electric Nightmares essay series remains a good primer. While voice actors contest the loss of work, other organisations are picking fights with the genAI biz over copyright infringement.

According to an Epic Games blog post, the Darth Vader chatbot in Fortnite makes use of two AI models – Google’s Gemini and ElevenLabs’ Flash. Gemini was recently hit by a $271 million fine over copyright breach, with France’s competition watchdog accusing the search engine company of “training” the bot with material from publishers and news agencies without notifying them. Google have pledged not to contest these facts as part of settlement proceedings.

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May 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Screen Actors Guild Files Charges Against Epic Games Subsidiary Over AI Darth Vader

by admin May 20, 2025

In brief

The U.S. Screen Actors Guild has urged the U.S. National Labor Relations Board to act after Epic replaced Fortnite voice actors with AI without bargaining.
The charge come days after an AI Darth Vader was at the center of controversy over racial slurs and profanity in Fortnite.
The complaint highlights the guild’s ongoing battle over AI in the entertainment industry.

The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, filed a labor complaint against Llama Productions, a subsidiary of Epic Games, on Monday.

The complaint accuses the company of replacing voice actors with artificial intelligence without union consent.

The move follows public backlash last week over an AI-generated Darth Vader character in the popular video game Fortnite that used racial slurs and offensive language.

SAG-AFTRA alleges Llama Productions used AI to create the Darth Vader character in Fortnite’s crossover event, “Galactic Battles.” They did so without notifying or negotiating with the union, violating labor agreements, the complaint alleges.

“We became aware when the press release hit the wires,” a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson told Decrypt.

A labor relations board charge, also known as an unfair labor practice charge, is a complaint that claims an employer or union has violated labor relations law. SAG-AFTRA maintains that its involvement is essential in any decision to replace human work with AI.

“This charge concerns the union’s critical role in negotiating terms concerning the replacement of bargaining unit work with AI technology,” the spokesperson said. “We are very supportive of AI tools to enhance the audience experience, but employers cannot implement these types of uses without coming to the union first and bargaining terms.”

According to the SAG-AFTRA spokesperson, the union did not approach Epic Games before filing the charges, and the Fortnite developer has not yet responded. Epic Games did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

The union is asking the NLRB to issue a formal complaint, citing Llama Productions’ alleged failure to bargain in good faith.

“Within the past six months, the Employer, by its agents and representatives, failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union by making unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilizing AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work on the interactive program Fortnite,” the attorneys for SAG-AFTRA wrote.

If a violation is found, Llama Productions could be required to reinstate affected employees and provide back pay. The board may also order the company to post notices informing workers of their rights and the case outcome. The agency does not impose fines or punitive penalties.

The complaint comes amid broader action by SAG-AFTRA voice actors, who have been on strike since July 2024. AI use in game development is emerging as a key point of contention.

It is unclear how the SAG-AFTRA complaint will affect productions that use the licensed voices of actors who have already passed away.

Before he died in 2024, iconic actor James Earl Jones, who voiced Darth Vader, licensed his voice to Lucasfilm. The agreement allows the creator of Star Wars to use Jones’ voice in future projects.

Other actors whose estates have licensed their voices to AI developers include Judy Garland, Jimmy Stewart, James Dean, and Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia.

While the guild said it celebrates the rights of its members and their estates to control the use of their “digital replicas,” it added that rights to bargaining terms must be “protected,” including those who previously worked on “matching Darth Vader’s iconic rhythm and tone in video games.”

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

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May 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Fortnite In Legal Trouble After Adding AI Darth Vader

by admin May 20, 2025

Screenshot: Epic / Lucasfilm / Kotaku

SAG-AFTRA, the massive actors and media union with over 160,000 members, has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Epic Games over its inclusion of an AI-powered Darth Vader in a recent Fortnite update.

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You might have heard about the AI-powered Darth Vader that was added to Epic’s popular battle royale game last week as part of an ongoing Star Wars-themed season. Players could talk to this AI-powered Vader and ask him questions. The AI character’s voice was designed to mimic that of the late James Earl Jones and was done with his and his estate’s permission. Pretty quickly after he was added to the game, players got him to say slurs, swears, and other questionable stuff. Epic patched him up and seems to have gotten the Sith Lord under control. But now the developer is in hot water with one of the largest media unions in the country because it included this AI-powered Vader without first communicating or bargaining with SAG-AFTRA.

On May 19, as reported by Eurogamer, SAG-AFTRA announced that it had filed an unfair labor practice charge against Epic Games and its subsidiary, Llama Productions.

“However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader’s iconic rhythm and tone in video games.”

SAG-AFTRA says that Epic and Llama Productions “chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I.” and did so without “providing any notice of their intent to do this” and without allowing the union to bargain over fair terms.

SAG-AFTRA voice actors are currently on strike against large video game companies including EA and Activision over various issues. The strike started in 2024. One of the big ones is more protection against AI copies, like Darth Vader in Fortnite.

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May 20, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Fortnite sued over Darth Vader AI for unfair labor practice

by admin May 20, 2025

Fortnite’s latest Star Wars update brought an AI-powered Darth Vader and a legal complaint from actors’ union SAG-AFTRA.

On May 16, 2025, Fortnite introduced a new Darth Vader as part of Chapter 6: Galactic Battle. This version wasn’t just a boss fight – he actually talked back. Players could use voice chat to interact with him in real time. The voice, modeled after prolific actor James Earl Jones, came from AI tools developed by Google and ElevenLabs.

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Epic Games secured permission from Jones’s estate, who supported the project. They stated the goal was to preserve Vader’s voice for future generations. Epic emphasized that player data wasn’t stored or used to train the AI.

But within hours of launch, some players pushed the AI to spout harmful or offensive speech. Viral clips quickly spread across social media. Epic deployed a fix within 30 minutes and locked the feature behind parental controls. Still, the incident raised concerns about using generative AI for iconic characters, especially in games with younger audiences.

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Darth Vader’s voice sparks union lawsuit over AI use in Fortnite

Now, SAG-AFTRA has filed a formal labor complaint against the game. The union alleges that Epic and Llama Productions, a signatory company for Fortnite, replaced union-covered voice work without proper notice or negotiation.

Epic Games

Their claim centers on labor practices, not permissions. While they support the rights of estates like Jones’s, SAG-AFTRA argues that using AI to replace human performers without union involvement violates labor rules.

The union sees this as part of a larger trend in the entertainment industry. AI is increasingly used to replicate performances, often without clear agreements in place.

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The concern isn’t just about one game, it’s about protecting working conditions for voice actors across the industry.

The outcome of this case could set new standards for how AI is introduced into games. If the NLRB finds in SAG-AFTRA’s favor, companies may be required to negotiate AI usage more transparently moving forward.

Meanwhile, Fortnite is still navigating legal fallout from another front. Despite winning its case against Apple, the game remains unavailable on the iOS App Store. The courtroom victory hasn’t yet restored access for mobile players, which is just another unresolved chapter in Fortnite’s evolving future.

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May 20, 2025 0 comments