fortnite

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Labor dispute erupts over AI-voiced Darth Vader in Fortnite

AI, AI ethics, AI voices, Darth Vader, Disney, epic games, fortnite, gaming, James Earl Jones, machine learning, Policy, star wars, voice actors, voice synthesis / /

For voice actors who previously portrayed Darth Vader in video games, the Fortnite feature starkly illustrates how AI voice synthesis could reshape their profession. While James Earl Jones created the iconic voice for films, at least 54 voice actors have performed as Vader in various media games over the years when Jones wasn’t available—work that could vanish if AI replicas become the industry standard.

The union strikes back

SAG-AFTRA’s labor complaint (which can be read online here) doesn’t focus on the AI feature’s technical problems or on permission from the Jones estate, which explicitly authorized the use of a synthesized version of his voice for the character in Fortnite. The late actor, who died in 2024, had signed over his Darth Vader voice rights before his death.

Instead, the union’s grievance centers on labor rights and collective bargaining. In the NLRB filing, SAG-AFTRA alleges that Llama Productions “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 action comes amid SAG-AFTRA’s ongoing interactive media strike, which began in July 2024 after negotiations with video game producers stalled primarily over AI protections. The strike continues, with more than 100 games signing interim agreements, while others, including those from major publishers like Epic, remain in dispute.

Labor dispute erupts over AI-voiced Darth Vader in Fortnite Read More »

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Epic goes to court to force Fortnite back on US iOS

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Tell it to the judge

In an attempt to force Apple’s hand, Epic filed a motion on Friday arguing that Apple’s latest Fortnite denial is “blatant retaliation” for Epic’s court challenge and an attempt to “circumvent this Court’s Injunctions and this Court’s authority.”

Epic says the iOS version of Fortnite it recently submitted complies with all Apple policies and court rulings by offering a link to the external Epic Games Store for purchases. Through that link, players would be able to take advantage of a 20 percent discount on purchases compared to in-app purchases through iOS itself.

“Although Apple’s contracts may permit it to reject an app for lawful reasons, the Injunction provides that Apple may no longer reject an app—including Fortnite—because its developer chooses to include an external purchase link,” Epic wrote. “Likewise, if the Injunction is to have any teeth, Apple cannot reject an app on the ground that its developer has sought to enforce the Injunction’s prohibitions.”

Elsewhere in the filing, Epic says it is being “punished” by Apple after a nearly five-year legal battle and is being denied the ability to “take advantage of the pro-competitive rules it helped usher in.” Epic argues that Apple “cannot reject any developer (including Epic) because they went to court to enforce the Injunction” and “cannot refuse to deal with Epic as retaliation for Epic’s decision to avail itself of this Court’s Injunction.”

The matter will now be taken up by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who has shown little love for Apple in recent weeks. In her April order, she took the company to task for its “clear and convincing violation” of her initial injunction and even made a criminal contempt referral for Apple executives who she said “outright lied under oath.”

“Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated,” Gonzalez Rogers wrote at the time. “This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order. Time is of the essence. The Court will not tolerate further delays.”

Epic goes to court to force Fortnite back on US iOS Read More »

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The empire strikes back with F-bombs: AI Darth Vader goes rogue with profanity, slurs

AI, Biz & IT, Darth Vader, Disney, epic games, fortnite, gaming, James Earl Jones, machine learning / /

In that sense, the vulgar Vader situation creates a touchy dilemma for Epic Games and Disney, which likely invested substantially in this high-profile collaboration. While Epic acted swiftly in response, maintaining the feature while preventing further Jedi mind tricks from players presents ongoing technical challenges for interactive AI speech of any kind.

An AI language model like the one used for constructing responses for Vader (Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash in this case, according to Epic) are fairly easy to trick with exploits like prompt injections and jailbreaks, and that has limited their usefulness in some applications. Imagine a truly ChatGPT-like Siri or Alexa, for example, that could be tricked into saying racist things on behalf of Apple or Amazon.

David Prowse as Darth Vader and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia filming the original Star Wars. Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Beyond language models, the AI voice technology behind the AI Darth Vader voice in Fortnite comes from ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5 model, trained on examples of speech from James Earl Jones so it can synthesize new speech in the same style.

Previously, Lucasfilm worked with a Ukrainian startup we covered in 2022 on Obi-Wan Kenobi to recreate Darth Vader’s voice performance using a different AI voice model called Respeecher, which isn’t used in Fortnite.

According to Variety, Jones’ family supported the new Fortnite collaboration, stating: “James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.”

This article was updated on May 16, 2025 at 4: 25 PM to include information about an email sent out from Epic Games to parents. This Article was updated again on May 17, 2025 at 10: 10 AM to correctly attribute ElevenLabs Flash v2.5 as the source of the Darth Vader audio model in Fortnite. The article previously incorrectly stated that Respeecher had been used for the game.

The empire strikes back with F-bombs: AI Darth Vader goes rogue with profanity, slurs Read More »

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Apple: “Hundreds of millions to billions” lost without App Store commissions

App Store, appeal, Apple, epic, fortnite, in-app payments, Policy / /

Many horses, including Spotify and Amazon’s Kindle Store, have already left the barn. But Apple is moving quickly to shut the external payments door opened by last week’s ruling that the company willfully failed to comply with court orders regarding anticompetitive behavior.

In an emergency motion filing late Wednesday (PDF), Apple described US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ “extraordinary Order” as including an injunction that “permanently precludes Apple from exercising control over core aspects of its business operations, including charging for use of its property and protecting the integrity of its platform and in-app purchase mechanism.” A certificate (PDF) accompanying the emergency filing states that the order “fundamentally changes Apple’s business and creates destabilizing effects” for App Store customers.

The restrictions, “which will cost Apple substantial sums annually,” are not based on the company’s conduct, Apple claims, but “were imposed to punish Apple for purported non-compliance” with the 2021 injunction. In her ruling (PDF), Gonzalez Rogers described Apple as conducting an “obvious cover-up” and said that Apple “at every turn chose the most anticompetitive option.”

Apple had already altered its App Review Guidelines to comply with Gonzalez Rogers’ ruling. Under the updated rules, developers have been able to include buttons, links, and calls to action to consider purchasing subscriptions and in-app payments through external sites and vendors. Apps like Spotify and Amazon’s Kindle have already placed buttons and had their updates approved by Apple, and vendors like Stripe have been providing guidance on taking payments without Apple’s commission. Before this, under a 2021 injunction at issue in recent filings, Apple charged a 12 to 27 percent commission on external payments, with significant filing and auditing requirements.

Apple: “Hundreds of millions to billions” lost without App Store commissions Read More »

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Spotify seizes the day after Apple is forced to allow external payments

Apple, epic, fortnite, Spotify, Stripe, Tech / /

After a federal court issued a scathing order Wednesday night that found Apple in “willful violation” of an injunction meant to allow iOS apps to provide alternate payment options, app developers are capitalizing on the moment. Spotify may be the quickest of them all.

Less than 24 hours after District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that Apple had sought to thwart a 2021 injunction and engaged in an “obvious cover-up” around its actions, Spotify announced in a blog post that it had submitted an updated app to Apple. The updated app can show specific plan prices, link out to Spotify’s website for plan changes and purchases that avoid Apple’s 30 percent commission on in-app purchases, and display promotional offers, all of which were disallowed under Apple’s prior App Store rules.

Spotify’s post adds that Apple’s newly court-enforced policy “opens the door to other seamless buying opportunities that will directly benefit creators (think easy-to-purchase audiobooks).” Spotify posted on X (formerly Twitter) Friday morning that the updated app was approved by Apple. Apple made substantial modifications to its App Review Guidelines on Friday and emailed registered developers regarding the changes.

Spotify seizes the day after Apple is forced to allow external payments Read More »

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Fortnite will return to iOS as court slams Apple’s “interference“ and ”cover-up“

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In a statement provided to Ars Technica, an Apple spokesperson said, “We strongly disagree with the decision. We will comply with the court’s order and we will appeal.”

An Epic return

With the new court order in place, Epic says it will once again submit a version of Fortnite to the iOS App Store in the US in the next week or so. That new version will offer players the option to use standard Apple App Store payments or its own, cheaper “Epic Direct Payment” system to purchase in-game currency and items.

That would mirror the system that was briefly in place for iOS players in August 2020, when Epic added alternate payment options to iOS Fortnite in intentional violation of what were then Apple’s store policies. Apple removed Fortnite from the iOS App Store hours later, setting off a legal battle that seems to finally be reaching its conclusion.

For those few hours when Epic Direct Payments were available on iOS Fortnite in 2020, Sweeney said that about 50 percent of customers “decided to give Epic a shot,” going through an additional step to register and pay through an Epic account on a webpage outside the app itself (and saving 20 percent on their purchase in the process). The other roughly 50 percent of customers decided to pay a higher price in exchange for the convenience of paying directly in the app through the iOS account they already had set up, Sweeney said. “Consumers were making the choice… and it was a wonderful thing to see,” he said.

Speaking to the press Wednesday night, Sweeney said the new court order was a “huge victory for developers” looking to offer their own payment service alongside Apple’s on iOS devices. “This is what we’ve wanted all along,” he said. “We think that this achieves the goal that we’ve been aiming for in the US, while there are still some challenges elsewhere in the world.”

While Sweeney said the specific iOS developer account Epic used to publish Fortnite in 2020 is still banned, he added that the company has several other developer accounts that could be used for the new submission, including one it has used to support Unreal Engine on Apple devices. And while Sweeney allowed that Apple could still “arbitrarily reject Epic from the App Store despite Epic following all the rules,” he added that, in light of this latest court ruling, Apple would now “have to deal with various consequences of that if they did.”

Fortnite will return to iOS as court slams Apple’s “interference“ and ”cover-up“ Read More »

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Epic Games Store and Fortnite arrive on EU iPhones

Apple, dma, epic games, epic games store, EU, fortnite, gaming, iOS, IPhone, Tech / /

It’s still a mess —

Epic also launched its store on Android.

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Artist's conception of Epic dodging harm from Apple's decisions (and perhaps its own).

Enlarge / Artist’s conception of Epic dodging harm from Apple’s decisions (and perhaps its own).

It’s been four years since Fortnite, one of the world’s most popular games, was pulled from the Apple App Store in a blaze of controversy and finger-pointing. Today, it’s returning to the iPhone—but only in the European Union.

Today marks the launch of the Epic Games Store on Android and iOS—iOS just in Europe, Android worldwide. Right now, it just has three games: Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe, and Fall Guys. And you’ll have to be in Europe to access it on your iPhone.

The Epic Games Store is run by Epic Games, the same company that develops and publishes Fortnite. Most folks who have been paying attention to either Epic or Apple in recent years knows the story at this point, but here’s the quick summary and analysis.

Opinion: Users are still the losers after four years

At the direction of CEO Tim Sweeney, Epic knowingly made changes to Fortnite related to digital payments that violated Apple’s terms for developers on the platform. Apple removed Fortnite accordingly, and a long, ugly PR and legal battle ensued between the two companies in multiple countries and regions.

In the US, a judge’s decision granted some small wins to Epic and other developers seeking to loosen Apple’s grip on the platform, but it kept the status quo for the most part.

Things went a little differently in Europe. EU legislators and regulators enacted the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which had far-reaching implications for how Apple and Google run their app stores. Among other things, the new law required Apple to allow third-party, alternative app stores (basically, sideloading) on the iPhone.

Apple’s compliance was far from enthusiastic (the company cited security and privacy concerns for users, which is valid, but the elephant in the room is, of course, its confident grip on app revenues on its platforms), and it was criticized for trying to put up barriers. Additionally, Apple rejected Epic’s attempts to launch its app store multiple times for a few arcane reasons amid a flurry of almost comically over-the-top tweets from Sweeney criticizing the company.

Despite Apple’s foot-dragging, Epic has finally reached the point where it could launch its app store. Epic had already launched a relatively successful App Store on PC, where Valve’s Steam holds a strong grip on users. The new iPhone app store doesn’t offer nearly as many options or perks as the PC version, but Epic says it’s working on wrangling developers onto its store.

It also says it will release its games on other alternative app stores on iOS and Android, such as AltStore PAL.

It’s been a long, winding, angry path to get to this point. In the battle between Epic and Apple, there remains some debate about who really has won up to this point. But there isn’t much dispute that, whether you want to blame Apple or Epic or both, users sure haven’t been the winners.

Epic Games Store and Fortnite arrive on EU iPhones Read More »

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Disney invests $1.5B in Epic Games, plans new “games and entertainment universe”

Disney, epic, epic games, fortnite, gaming / /

Steamboat Willie in Fortnite when? —

Major move continues Disney’s decades-long, up-and-down relationship with gaming.

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What is this, some sort of

Enlarge / What is this, some sort of “meta universe” or something?

Disney / Epic

Entertainment conglomerate Disney has announced plans to invest $1.5 billion for an “equity stake” in gaming conglomerate Epic Games. The financial partnership will also see both companies “collaborate on an all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences,” according to a press release issued late Wednesday.

A short teaser trailer announcing the partnership promises that “a new Universe will emerge,” allowing players to “play, watch, create, [and] shop” while “discover[ing] a place where magic is Epic.”

In announcing the partnership, Disney stressed its long-standing use of Epic’s Unreal Engine in projects ranging from cinematic editing to theme park experiences like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Disney’s new gaming universe will also be powered by the Unreal Engine, the company said.

Content and characters from Disney’s Marvel and Star Wars subsidiaries were some of the first third-party content to be included in Epic’s mega-popular Fortnite, helping establish the game’s reputation as a major cross-media metaverse. Disney says that its new “persistent universe” will “interoperate with Fortnite” while offering games and “a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters, and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and more.”

While a $1.5 billion investment sounds significant on its face, it only represents a small portion of a company like Epic, which was valued at $32 billion in a 2022 investment by Sony. Since 2012, nearly half of Epic has been owned by Chinese gaming conglomerate Tencent (market cap: $356 billion), an association that has led to some controversy for Epic in the recent past.

Here we go again

In announcing the new Epic investment, Disney CEO Bob Iger called the partnership “Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games… offer[ing] significant opportunities for growth and expansion.” But this is far from Disney’s first ride in the game industry rodeo; on the contrary, it’s a continuation of an interest in gaming that has run hot and cold since Walt Disney Computer Software was first established back in 1988.

Two logos plus an X means a partnership is official, right?

Enlarge / Two logos plus an X means a partnership is official, right?

Disney / Epic

That publisher, which operated under several names over the years, mainly published lowest-common-denominator licensed games based on Disney properties for dozens of platforms. Disney invested heavily in the Disney Infinity “toys-to-life” line starting in 2013 but then shut the game down and left game publishing for good in 2016. Since then, Disney has interacted with the game industry mainly as a licensor for properties such as the Sony-published Spider-Man series and Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts 3.

After acquiring storied game developer LucasArts in 2012 (as part of a much larger Star Wars deal), Disney unceremoniously shut down the struggling game development division just six months later. But in 2021, Disney brought back the Lucasfilm Games brand as an umbrella for all future Star Wars games.

While today’s announcement doesn’t include any specific mention of linear TV or movie adaptations of Epic Game properties, the possibility seems much more plausible given this new financial and creative partnership. Given the recent success of linear narratives based on video game properties from Super Mario Bros. to The Last of Us, a Disney+ streaming series targeting Fortnite‘s 126 million monthly active players almost seems like a no-brainer at this point.

Disney’s stock price shot up nearly 8 percent to about $107 per share in 15 minutes of after-hours trading following the announcement, but has given back some of those gains as of this writing.

Disney invests $1.5B in Epic Games, plans new “games and entertainment universe” Read More »

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Supreme Court denies Epic v. Apple petitions, opening up iOS payment options

App Store, Apple, Apple v Epic, epic, fortnite, gaming, Google, Policy, Supreme Court, Tech / /

Epic v. Apple —

Most of Epic’s arguments are moot now, but one point will change the App Store.

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Fortnite characters looking across the many islands and vast realm of the game.

Enlarge / Artist’s conception of iOS developers after today’s Supreme Court ruling, surveying a new landscape of payment options and subscription signaling.

Epic Games

The Supreme Court declined to hear either of the petitions resulting from the multi-year, multi-court Epic v. Apple antitrust dispute. That leaves most of Epic’s complaints about Apple’s practices unanswered, but the gaming company achieved one victory on pricing notices.

It all started in August 2020, when Epic sought to work around Apple and Google’s app stores and implemented virtual currency purchases directly inside Fortnite. The matter quickly escalated to the courts, with firms like Spotify and Microsoft backing Epic’s claim that Apple’s App Store being the only way to load apps onto an iPhone violated antitrust laws.

The matter reached trial in May 2021. The precise definitions of “games” and “marketplace” were fervently debated. Epic scored a seemingly huge victory in September 2021 when a Northern California judge demanded that Apple allow developers to offer their own payment buttons and communicate with app customers about alternate payment options. An appeals court upheld that Apple’s App Store itself wasn’t a “walled garden” that violated antitrust laws but kept the ruling that Apple had to open up its payments and messaging.

Today’s denial of petitions for certiorari means that Apple has mostly run out of legal options to prevent changes to its App Store policies now that multiple courts have found its “anti-steering” language anticompetitive. Links and messaging from developers should soon be able to send users to alternative payment options for apps rather than forcing them to stay entirely inside Apple’s App Store, resulting in a notable commission for Apple.

Epic’s goals to see Fortnite restored to the App Store or see third-party stores or sideloading on iPhones remain unfulfilled. This is not the case with Epic’s antitrust suit against Google, which in mid-December went strongly in Epic’s favor. With a unanimous jury verdict against Google, a judge this month will determine how to address Google’s violations—potentially including Epic’s request that it and other developers be allowed to issue their own app stores and payment systems on Android devices.

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, wrote in a thread on X (formerly Twitter) that the Supreme Court’s denial means the “battle to open iOS to competing stores and payments is lost in the United States” and that it was a “sad outcome for all developers.” Sweeney noted that as of today, developers on Apple’s platforms can “tell US customers about better prices on the web.” And he noted that regulatory and policy actions around the world, including the upcoming EU Digital Markets Act, may have further impact.

Apple has yet to comment on today’s Supreme Court decision.

Supreme Court denies Epic v. Apple petitions, opening up iOS payment options Read More »

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No Plans for ‘Fortnite’ VR Support, Says Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney

epic, epic games, fortnite, fortnite quest, fortnite quest 2, fortnite virtual reality, fortnite vr, News, VR Game / /

Fortnite doesn’t natively support VR headsets, and although rumors have been floating around recently that allege the popular battle royale shooter may eventually include a VR mode, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says it’s not happening.

Update (December 9th, 2022): In an interview with Tim Sweeney from The Verge, the Epic Games CEO made it clear that the company has “no plans” for a VR supported version of Fortnite. According to Sweeney, it just wouldn’t work well:

“The thing that we do in Fortnite every day as gamers is run through an environment rapidly, and it’s the kind of experience that involves intense motion and doesn’t work as well in VR,” Sweeney told The Verge.

This comes as stark contrast to previous rumors, which alleged that code found in recent updates included mention of Oculus. The rumor, detailed below, was most likely a case of leftover residue from Unreal Engine 5 development. The original article follows below:

Original Article (August 30th, 2022): Update 21.50, the game’s fifth and final update to Season 3, is rolling out today, and it seems data miner and itinerant Fortnite leaker HYPEX has gotten a look under the hood, maintaining that Epic has added “stuff related to Oculus.”

We haven’t been able to independently verify this, however HYPEX, who is known in the community as a reliable leaker, surmises this could point to VR support being added at some point in the future.

If Fortnite can manage the go native on the Quest platform like HYPEX’s tweet suggests, it’s a pretty big deal. Fortnite on Quest 2 would not only stand a chance at eclipsing its largest VR-supported competitors Roblox and Minecraft, but also offer up competition to multiplayer VR experiences and games like Meta’s Horizon platform, Rec Room, VRChat, and Population: One (2020). In short, Fortnite getting on Quest could make it one of the most popular VR games there overnight.

Of course, there’s the matter of shoehorning the large-scale multiplayer shooter onto Quest 2’s modest Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processor, which is a challenge in its own right. Still, Epic Games has been a big proponent of VR since the launch the original Oculus Rift in 2016, having pioneered VR support for its Unreal Engine whilst putting out one of the slickest VR arcade shooters to this day, Robo Recall (2016). It basically wrote the book on optimizing games for VR headsets, and is a founding member of the OpenXR initiative, an open standard for VR/AR app development.

In more recent years however, the company has focused on building its own Epic Games Store distribution channel and pushing Fortnite way past its original conception point as a free battle royale shooter. It now includes multiple game modes, a creative sandbox mode, and regularly hosts live events such as concerts and special in-game events.

Earlier this year Epic secured a $2 billion investment to stoke its metaverse ambitions, something CEO and founder of Epic Tim Sweeney said at the time would “accelerate our work to build the metaverse and create spaces where players can have fun with friends, brands can build creative and immersive experiences and creators can build a community and thrive.”

No Plans for ‘Fortnite’ VR Support, Says Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney Read More »