Ubisoft has once again partnered with HitRecord to solicit assets for an upcoming game and, as with last time around, the arrangement is drawing criticism from the game development community.<\/p>\n
The two companies are working together to crowdsource music for Ubisoft\u2019s upcoming game Watch Dogs Legion<\/em>, a partnership Ubisoft says in a statement intends to give artists \u201ca chance to have their own creative expressions included in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Many in the game development community, however, say that Ubisoft and HitRecord are soliciting spec work, or calling for artists to create and submit their work for free with only the hope they\u2019ll be paid for their time and effort in the long run.<\/p>\n That is the core of how the HitRecord platform works: companies publish a description of the work they\u2019re after and call for artists to submit bits and pieces of content along those lines. Those that have their submissions selected for inclusion in the final work get paid for their contributions, while the artists that created assets that weren\u2019t selected are left without compensation.<\/p>\n For example, right now Legion<\/em>\u2019s HitRecord page<\/a> has five songs listed in the “concepting” stage. The \u201cDark Electronic Heist Song\u201d is looking for artists to submit vocals, music, and writing while the \u201cBattle Anthem Metal Song\u201d is seeking writing, music, voice acting, and vocals. Artists then submit the individual parts being requested, and the final song will ultimately be a combination of several of those submissions. <\/p>\n Ubisoft has used HitRecord to crowdsource art assets for the yet-unreleased Beyond Good and Evil 2 <\/em>in the past, and encountered the same public outcry. Last time around, the platform\u2019s founder, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, released a blog post defending his platform<\/a> and saying that the partnership wasn\u2019t the same as spec work.<\/p>\n It hasn\u2019t come to that point yet this time, but Ubisoft itself has already released its own statement<\/a> defending the partnership on the grounds that submissions are voluntary and meant to give the HitRecord community and Watch Dogs <\/em>fans a chance to land music in the game.<\/p>\n The statement also notes that the studio is working with \u201cprofessional artists and composers\u201d on licensed songs and an original score to be featured in the game, so the submissions being called for through HitRecord are only for additional content beyond the game\u2019s existing soundtrack.<\/p>\n