[Atrine]

> While some of the commercial reasons for keeping game art under wraps make sense, many artists working in the video game industry say they're subject to a power imbalance, even in full-time studio positions, that sees the bulk of their work locked away in vaults, where not only can fans never see them but where artists can't share them either, not even in professional settings like job applications or portfolios.

This is actually a pretty big problem. My cofounder and I run a small video game studio and we worked with our lawyers to figure out how to protect artists as well as the company in a way that seemed fair. What we came up with was a general blanket rule that if an artist's work gets used in any public way (promo materials, game launch) then they can use that work immediately for their public portfolios. In the situation where it's not released we have end dates in the contracts for when they can use their work in their portfolios.

[rickdeckard]

> If an artist's work gets used in any public way (promo materials, game launch) then they can use that work immediately for their public portfolios

Do you see this case being prohibited as the norm for other studios? (the cited section only talks about art "locked away in vaults")

> In the situation where it's not released we have end dates in the contracts for when they can use their work in their portfolios.

That's actually quite charitable, but IMO understandable how difficult this is for larger companies. After all your company paid for that product of work, which also reveals parts of your creative process.

Imagine Ford paying someone to make five car-designs, ending up using one of them and ultimately losing full control over the remaining four...

[Tanoc]

>Imagine Ford paying someone to make five car-designs, ending up using one of them, and ultimately losing full control over the remaining four...

Which is how things used to work. The Isuzu Impulse was originally a design for Audi and then BMW by Giugiaro which was turned down, and Giugiaro then reworked it a bit when Isuzu came asking for a new design. Originally the Cizeta V16T was a Lamborghini Countach replacement, before Lamborghini turned it down and Moroder bought the rights to it. The Chrysler minivans of much fame were originally a Ford design from 1972 called the Ford Carousel that Henry Ford II told Lee Iaccoca to buzz off with... Which he did after a minor rhinoplasty to the thing. And they were a smash hit that was half of the equation that saved Chrysler in 1983 and left Ford almost dead.

[rickdeckard]

If the designs were PAID by Ford, but then resold by the designer to its competitors, it sounds like a lesson learnt for Ford...

[Atrine]

> Imagine Ford paying someone to make five car-designs, ending up using one of them and ultimately losing full control over the remaining four...

Yeah this isn't a valid comparison in the slightest. Artists using work for their public portfolio doesn't mean that they can use the work for other employers or in other contexts. Not sure how you made such large leap here.

[josephcsible]

> Imagine Ford paying someone to make five car-designs, ending up using one of them and ultimately losing full control over the remaining four...

Ford: we're not moving forward with those four car designs because they're not commercially valuable.

Also Ford: you can't tell anyone else about those four car designs because they're so commercially valuable.

[rickdeckard]

Me: I want to decorate my living room and pay you to provide five nude paintings of me in my garden.

Also me: I will put up one of them, the other four I will put in my vault for a later time.

The Artist: Then you only own one of the paintings, give me back the others!