Web3 In Adult Animation: New Year New Tech In Voice-Acting, Production, And Even Distribution

It’s only been a few weeks into 2024 and reverberations are being felt by the rise of web 3 technologies in adult animation on a number of different levels. Yes, we still get the silly stuff like AI being used to produce South Park characters in real-life and there’s still a place for that stuff, I guess. But the importance of these technologies are relying less on meme-worthy content and more on different areas of production for adult animation that will most likely have an impact.

Last week during a CES convention that showcased everything from PS5-driven cars to headsets from Sony and Apple starting to carve out the next-generation in entertainment, it was announced that Replica Studios, a provider of AI-powered voices as a service to be made available for game and animation producers, had inked a deal with SAG-AFTRA to do so in as legitimate a way as possible. After almost a year of SAG-AFTRA leading strikes across America in an effort to gain protections from AI, the first month of 2024 sees this landmark deal happen.

AI isn’t the only web3 tech in the press this last week. Studios like Flipside XR have announced that they’ve added features to their software that will allow producers of VR content to produce Steamboat Willie-led productions whilst also allowing joystick operability, further giving at-home producers a lot of new toolsets to work with in building their own creations. Not to be outdone, Toonstar recently made the news in launching a new AI studio for digital creators off of the success of their collaboration with social video star Parker James, star and creator of the very popular StEvEn & Parker animated series that also features dubs in various languages produced in AI.

Note that YouTube and Tiktok are starting to become bastions for adult animation. Early in the 2000’s, there was a gold rush of producers attempting to take advantage, some more than others survived. One of those, Cartoon Hangover, even premiered the fourth season of Bravest Warriors early this week. Even with YouTube TV reportedly being the most canceled streaming service in 2023 with 35,494 monthly searches on how to terminate accounts (Netflix is second but is only a third of the number of searches as YouTube TV), OG YouTube seems to be a way for up-and-coming producers to get their content seen on Instagram and other social video mediums.

Note one streaming service that seems to be on the up-and-up as of late. Peacock, which TVLine recently noted the recently premiered Ted as the most popular original series since the streamer has launched which has creator Seth MacFarlane both weighing options on a second season and showing some tech flair of his own with his own Viewscreen technology. Ted marks the first television show to film an animated lead character in real time alongside other actors with ViewScreen. The technology had a significant impact on the production from allowing the entire crew to see Ted in real time while filming to capture MacFarlane’s performance so he could act as Ted while simultaneously directing.