Matthew Buxton

Status check of the Swedish games industry Do we still need people? Look, it’s me! I had the honor of giving my view on the current staffing landscape in Swedish Games Industry 2024: Game Developer Index So, even after a few tough years, do we still need people? Short answer: yes, we do! As I shared in a previous post, the Swedish games industry is still growing And studios will always need seniors and specialists. In fact, the demand has increased significantly after the summer this year If you are looking for your next gig in games, you should definitely consider Sweden! Here’s what I’ve seen since starting Game Boost: 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 2021: There has been a significant shift in mindset around contractors → Initially, consultants were rare and mainly used during time-pressured periods. → Now, studios incorporate more consultants into their general staffing strategy. → New studios keep their core team small and back up with external help. My observation is that things are finally starting to happen in the staffing area After 10 years of “this is how it’s always been done” New ways to staff for efficient productions are emerging. Exciting times! 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: We are seeing a split in how studios handle contractors → Some studios cut back on consultants to reduce direct costs. → Others bring in consultants to minimize long-term risks and costs. My observation is that contractors are crucial in unstable times. They provide access to specialists you need for shorter periods You get a game that can compete in the market out without a massive long-term cost. 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: Specialities vary, Unreal stays a must have → Previously people mostly requested Unreal programmers (they are still in demand) → Now they also look for animators, producers, and UI/UX designers. → You need field experience to hit the ground running. → Important traits: self-motivation, good team player, not afraid to ask questions, proficiency in English. My observation is that to be successful in contracting you need to bring more to the table than your hard skills. A good consultant is both productive and shares their knowledge to strengthen the team. To sum it up: The Swedish games industry is thriving and modernizing staffing - it’s a great market for developers with professional experience and unreal competence. PS Swedish Games Industry 2024: Game Developer Index is a yearly report produced by the Dataspelsbranschen / Swedish Games Industry. (Link to English and Swedish versions of the full report in the comments) As a loyal reader and someone who looks forward to the report every year, I was excited to be part of it. Thank you Johanna Nylander and Elin Carlsson for letting me share my perspectives ❤️

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In an article in GamesIndustry.Biz, Sophie McEvoy dig into why the games industry in Sweden is still growing. (despite the harsh climate we’ve experienced globally in recent years) “Swedish developers are feeling somewhat optimistic as the local development scene continues to experience rapid growth.” She writes after talking to Per Strömbäck, spokesperson at Dataspelsbranschen / Swedish Games Industry, Oskar Wolontis, COO at Hazelight Studios and Christian Lövstedt, general manager at Midjiwan AB - Polytopia Strömbäck notes that “while there are fewer vacancies at the moment due to the current global economic turmoil, there aren't as many layoffs as in some other places, and the industry here is still growing. The number of people working in the industry having grown from 2,500 to 8,500 people in the last decade” This success has not come without challenges however For Midjiwan, recruiting locally has been challenging because "the demand for talented game developers far exceeds supply" Christian states "As a smaller studio, we face extra difficulties in attracting the best local talent since people tend to gravitate towards the bigger studios, believing it's safer (which is incorrect in our case)." Oskar agrees, "The interest in investing in the Swedish game development industry in recent years has been higher than the local talent pool can reasonably support," he explains. The good news for Swedish game developers is that remote has opened up the possibility to utilize a much larger and global talent pool to support continued growth. From my experience working with providing Swedish studios with senior global talent for 3 years now, I can say that our Swedish work culture, success rate and innovation spirit has not gone unnoticed by developers globally. People want to work with Swedish studios. And now it’s easier than ever. The Swedish games industry is growing, and with our great reputation we have a unique opportunity to leverage the power of remote to continue getting more hit titles out. Remote work in games has so many benefits in my humble opinion The studios get a smoother production with fast access to the right people The developer get to work on games they are passionate about The talent is developed and kept within gaming Increased diversity benefits productivity While it may not be for all and for all situations, it sure has a lot of upsides for those who can make it work.

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Game Industry Ecosystem ♻️ Yesterday, during dinner with three remarkable individuals from the Swedish game industry in Stockholm, we sparked a discussion about the current challenges in game industry education. We talked about how there are currently too many educational programs, and that many game industry teachers end up getting jobs themselves instead of helping students secure employment, leaving their teaching roles. Additionally, we highlighted the significant gap in the ecosystem—soon, we'll have an influx of newly graduated students who lack the necessary experience to be fully prepared and responsible candidates for companies. This is where organizations like Spelkollektivet and initiatives similar to game jams, summer game camps play a crucial role. They function like boot camps, where students can acquire practical skills necessary to become game developers, regardless of the category. I believe we will soon need more places like Spelkollektivet, where students can learn teamwork, hone their skills, and work on several actual projects. These experiences will help them build real portfolios and sharpen their raw talents. Moreover, such environments enable students to form valuable relationships, potentially leading to the creation of their own companies/startups/consult and freelance. Here are some suggested solutions to help solve this issue: 1. Enhanced internships and apprenticeships 2. Project-based learning 3. Industry-driven curriculum 4. Boot camps and workshops 5. Portfolio development 6. Networking opportunities 7. Career services 8. Soft skills training 9. Continuous learning 10. Entrepreneurial support #gameindustrysweden #gameindustry #gamedev #gameindustryeducation #gameindustrycommunity #futuregames

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#Gamescom24 Why should we meet at Gamescom? - Come see me on stage on Gamescom Congress talking about AI, Games and Propaganda in the new age - You are an investor, Angel, VC, or a Publisher that can help us with our games and Transmedia ongoing projects (Games, TV, Toys) - You are an event organizer / speakers scout, that want an experienced speaker on stage talking about AI, Mental Health, Social impact and how we can fix our potentially great world (currently kinda sick world) - You are an indie in need of an advice, BizDev help, Game design insights - You are one of my close Gaming family, which i always love to meet everywhere in this world, sharing battle stories and development scars over a cup of coffee, beer or fresh juice! Peace and Love, Live long and prosper! here is a link to Meet2Match, send me an invite there (or just DM) https://lnkd.in/d9w26Xxz #AI #mentalhealth #gamedesign #gamedev #socialimpact #propaganda

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Bigmouth Audio won't save you money on voice casting. Why? Because we're not just about the bottom line or shareholders. We're an owner-operated company that prioritises: 1. Personal Touch Over Profits: Our focus is on the needs of our client, not just the numbers. We prioritise a personal touch over 'feeding the machine'. 2. Fair Pay for Talent: We don't underpay our talent suppliers, i.e actors. We always aim for industry-standard rates. If a project's budget doesn't match, it's not the right fit for us. 3. Same Suppliers: We collaborate with the same agents, actors, editors, and voice directors as our competitors. 4. Creative over Convenience: We prioritise the creative aspect of a project over convenience. Every decision is geared towards enhancing the creative vision. What Bigmouth Audio can do: 1. Our Best People: When you work with us, you work with the owners of the business. We give you our best people, ensuring an incredible job every time. 2. Access to Top Talent: By paying proper rates, we attract the best voice actors and elite talent for each project. 3. Multi-Location Voice Casting: We go where the talent is. Casting in multiple cities and countries, we use our own studios and elite partner studios globally, providing the best casting service in the industry. We're reassuringly expensive. hashtag#VoiceCasting hashtag#CreativeCollaboration hashtag#BigmouthAudioDifference

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Dear Stretch Network Partners, Please allow me to inform you about additional changes that will take place in the global network on July 8. 🍀 All Heads-up tables will be removed 🍀 Badugi cash tables will be removed 🍀 Sonic cash tables will become 6-max 🍀 The minimum buy-in for Sonic Omaha cash tables will be 20 BB 🍀 Sonic Omaha 7 card cash tables will be added These changes apply only to cash tables and only to our Global Network. In your local networks, you decide your product strategy, but we would be happy to assist you in managing your local networks as well. If you need our help, please contact us. The above-mentioned changes are part of the new strategy for the Stretch Network Global Network, which prioritizes the comfort of novice players and casual traffic to maintain the proper balance of our ecosystem between amateurs and professionals. Caring for the ecosystem of the Global Network is our priority. The changes we are implementing now and will continue to implement will significantly improve the user experience for your players, extend their LTV, ARPU, and, of course, Revenue.

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Yesterday, I wrote about the access to talent. Now, it is time to focus on access to funding and support for IP creation. Let's start on building a digital-ready copyright framework. The regulatory fragmentation of the European digital single market area is one of the key market access barriers for European game developers. Consequently, we need a fully harmonised copyright framework. AI-ready copyright framework will be one of the critical debates of the next Commission term. The EU needs a legal framework that keeps human-created copyright-protected content competitive. On the one hand, we need a copyright framework that protects artistic authors. However, the EU must widen its focus to protecting trademark and design rights holders in a digital environment, as these rights are likely to become much more important in the AI-driven world. On the other hand, we need a copyright framework that ensures contractual freedom and freedom to conduct business. These two perspective must be carefully balanced against each other. Lastly, the commission needs to create a specific legal framework for unfair, non-negotiable standard contracts used by AI tool developers. When it comes to funding, the EU needs to increase Creative Europe Media funding for video game development. Furthermore, digital games are an under-exploited driver of innovation. Therefore, the Union should give them a clear cross-cutting role in the new framework programme for research and innovation and introduce a specific R&D funding instrument targeting the games industry. The Union must require member states to introduce specific measures to support new emerging industrial sectors, like the game industry, in their regional smart specialisation strategies. Unlike any other cultural industry, public support for the game industry must currently be notified in Brussels. The Union must make it easier for member states to introduce public support for their local game industry ecosystem. Thus, the Union should broaden the audiovisual state aid exemption under the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) to include video games. If you have not done so already, vote! Vote for someone who continues the European support for Ukraine. For more information on the EGDF EP election manifesto, please visit: https://lnkd.in/eXYzVDHv

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For me, the policy summit at the Nordic Game Conference was a call to action. It is time for games to be fully recognised as a cultural medium in their own right with high innovation and economic potential. The European game industry needs better public support structures and funding instruments to unlock sustainable digital growth. Sweden, a country with one of the biggest and most quickly growing game industries in Europe, is a perfect location to discuss policies to support the European game industry. One of the Swedish game industry's best-kept secrets is its exceptional local cluster organisations and game incubators, which are among the best in Europe. Their success is evident in the fact that Sweden, with its 900 game developer studios — more than four times the number of studios in Finland, for instance — has the largest studio base in the EU. The success of Swedish clusters and incubators is supported by world-class professional game education infrastructure. Sweden does not only have studios. It also has successful studios that run a significant turnover and employ a wast amount of industry experts. Overall, the Swedish game industry employs almost 8 500 industry talents and runs a combined local turnover of more than EUR 3 billion. With its 5 000 industry experts, Stockholm is one of the key game industry hubs in Europe. Furthermore, with over 2 500 industry experts, Copenhagen and Malmö form a rare cross-border talent hub. Local cluster organisations are crucial in supporting local game studios with knowledge and networks. Unfortunately, the Swedish industry lacks national cultural production support and R&D innovation funding instruments to boost the industry to the next level, creating a significant challenge for the long-term sustainability of the industry's growth. Most likely, Finns will once again have a head start in exploring the possibilities of the next technological disruption with their highly successful R&D instruments. With their cultural support instruments, Danes will likely be among the forerunners pushing the boundaries of games as an artistic medium. Sweden is likely to maintain its leading position in the global race if it is able to ensure both the continuation of support for local cluster organisations and the introduction of dedicated national public support instruments for its local game industry. Thank you Erik Robertson for making this happen.

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Adding a few more points: 1. The core goal of cross-platform from game apps to H5 mini-games is to reduce UA (User Acquisition) costs. In the past two years, Tencent’s H5 mini-games have brought significant benefits by lowering UA costs, while user payment and retention rates are not worse than those of client-based games. (For Mini Games on iOS, Tencent won’t charge developers; for Android, they charge 40% of revenue, rebate 10% for UA, so it’s a 30% cut of the revenue goes to Tencent, which is lower than Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo’s 50% cut - pathetic right? lol) 2. From a cross-PC and mobile perspective, directing users to make purchases on PC is also aimed at increasing profits by secretly pocketing the 30% share that would otherwise go to Apple and Google. (PayPal only charges up to around 5%, which is significantly less than 30%) 3. The strategy of cross-platform development for consoles, PC, and mobile, combined with global multi-language and cross-platform simultaneous releases, aims to outcompete and bankrupt rivals who try to follow suit. (It’s a trap, but some CEOs love to be “brain washed”. They are fascinated by this global multiplatforms multi-languange regions launch thing, aiming 1 month ROI positive goal. (Copying Genshin Impact) Good luck!!

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How I find the most relevant candidate for a role (100% of our customers work with us because of the quality of our profiles) Do your research: don't let fancy titles trick you. 1. Gather as many possible candidates you can (we have 1000+ in our DB) 2. Pass all through a predefined, custom-specific filter 3. Call with the most relevant candidates 4. Reference calls (optional) 5. Never take short-cuts Stop settling for good-enough, start going for perfect-fit. Because no one cares about your challenges, they care about winning. Earn your respect, deliver first.

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Some news about Crevoid and its why. Read the Article here https://lnkd.in/dVnDT2dY

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As Concord gets pulled from stores, it's funny to watch analysts repeatedly bend over backwards to ignore and misdiagnose the obvious biggest reason why it failed. Yes, it was a generic shooter entering into a crowded market. Yes, it had a $40 price tag. Yes, the character designers were bad. First -- no aspect of the gameplay impacted its sales because no one played this game. It could have the cure for cancer hidden inside of it and no one would know. Concord failed because it didn't have the goodwill of its audience. It failed because its developer promoted an unpopular ideology, because it was laughed at all over the internet, and no one wanted to be caught dead playing or supporting it. Concord is not alone in its failure. Dustborn failed. Suicide Squad's much mocked "Mrs. Freeze" failed. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, after who knows how much money was spent, will have middling sales at best. It is a combination of two things. Using games as a vehicle to promote political ideologies to an audience that is largely, and increasingly every time they do this, opposed to it. And corporatism, making games from a business-first mindset by people who don't know that much about games. Let me put this in perspective for you. The US population is 333 million. Only 77% of that number is over 18. Only 60% of that number votes in Presidential elections. Of people who vote in elections, only 25% are Democrats. Of that number, only half of Democrats consider themselves liberal. That is 19 million people. Consider also that that group is completely mismatched with the demographic makeup of gamers, who are, much to the dismay of developers and publishers, young, multicultural but largely white, men. These games come across as preachy politics-as-a-religion attempts at social engineering. People do not like it. The reason it keeps happening is that it is a sacred cow -- for many people working in games, it is the reason they work in games. But what you're doing is accepting mainstream budgets to make niche products. You're taking Marvel-sized money to fund Pureflix level projects. Eventually the budgets will shrink to match the niche audience they appeal to. Supply and demand. Meanwhile, market forces will drive other creators to serve the existing demand, and they will capture market share. (See: Black Myth Wukong). You can, if you like, ignore that the thing every failing game has in common and what gamers vocally say is the problem, is the problem, and continue to lose tremendous amounts of money. But the truth is, nobody likes this. Gamers don't like it. Foreign markets for games don't like it. Nobody likes this except a handful of upper middle class and upper class people in coastal American cities who largely don't play games. You can make any argument you want for why people supposedly *should* like it. But you can't change reality. People aren't buying these products. They are not popular. https://lnkd.in/eZPAHfcG

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Updated 11/10/24: 1,039 New Games Jobs at 250+ Companies Category #3, Resource #11 at amirsatvat.com https://lnkd.in/d6x5NHMZ Looking for new opportunities in games? Please check out Resource #11 - the most robust new games roles resource out there! Combining it with Resource #10 (Games Jobs Workbook - our long-form flagship resource updated every 1-2 months) offers the most comprehensive view of the games job market worldwide. It's not just about the total aggregate numbers - our data is the cleanest! I run a 9-step process to keep everything clean, accurate, and automated: When the role was posted How it categorizes across our 20 standard community functional groups Dedupe for the same roles in multiple locations Clean out miscategorized roles Tell you where the role is Tell you if it's remote or not - for real Tell you if it is a reposted role or not with conditional formatting - for real Give you a direct link to apply Explore more and dive into your next big opportunity! Always free and without ulterior motives, for gamers!

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An excellent meeting with Anna Mansi and Sara Whybrew today has prompted me to return to the topic of how we can best work together across the video games industry to develop a long-term approach to meeting our skills and workforce needs. As I've mentioned before, I know it is difficult to talk about long-range workforce planning when the industry is going through painful layoffs. In some senses, though, I think it is essential - the better the industry is at developing our own long-term talent pipeline, the stronger our ability to attract the inward investment and growth support that will drive our future sustainability. 'Skills' is one of those words that everyone says, assuming that everyone else has the same definition as they do. Unfortunately, I've discovered over the years that in a room of 4 people, it is possible to have 6 different definitions of what the 'skills' agenda actually covers. I'll dodge the definitions issue here, but in essence I think that every industry - and perhaps Creative Industries more than most - depends fundamentally on the people who work in it and how empowered they feel to do their best work. You can have a great talent supply-chain, but if those people fetch up in insecure jobs that don't provide opportunities to learn and grow, they won't stick around. As one colleague once said to me "people join organisations (and sometimes industries) but they leave managers". Creating an industry that has access to great people and gives them great opportunities needs long-term structural engineering not short-term fixes. Tempting though it is to reach for quick-fixes or solutions that have worked in other contexts, in my experience there is no real substitute for going through the long (sometimes decades-long) process of engineering a genuine talent supply-chain that connects industry need with aspirational jobs. Video games is a young industry, and we haven't yet had time to come together around the common definitions of job roles, skills frameworks and professional development that are the absolute bedrock of industries that have addressed their skills needs on a sustainable basis. Take Apprenticeships, for example. One common refrain I have heard in the industry is that Apprenticeships 'don't work for video games businesses'. But we have spent relatively little time asking 'why not?'. Given that Apprenticeships are an established part of how successive Governments seek to bridge demand and supply, what is it about our industry that means the model doesn't seem to be working (and given that the model is unlikely to change, even with more flexibility) can we adapt to meet it halfway? The temptation is to reach for solutions - and we are definitely going to need to build scalable functions, skills standards and career pathways - but before we start providing the answers, I think we may need to go through a process of figuring out what the questions really are.

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Pretty neat demo to share - tutorial inside too.

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So here at LKHE we make games for gamers, and we support our devs fully. We are also about teaching and innovation, and will be opensourcing our games eventually, as well as the behind the scenes. This also means we don’t hide our code in a vault. It insures you guys get to bring your cool ideas to life, and it makes sure we’re always ready to take that extra step further into innovation. I noticed a lot of people are looking for this, and there isnt really a source out there that shows you how to do it. SOOOOoooo here it is (a Sin City Filter) for UE5. You can also use this for any post process, and bring an object, or character out and separate it from the post processing! Give us that Like and subscribe on the channel, and stay tuned. Out Pitch Demo is almost done for Project Kianna, and we'll be pumping out content via Discord, Facebook, LinkdIn, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok and have our own fully operational Website! Once were up on social media, we will be releasing the official "Prototype: Kianna" which is the free (player built demo) where your input matters on how we proceed with our game! it will have 6 upgrades, based on player input, and will slowly uncover the origin story of Kianna. but for now, check it out my dudes https://lnkd.in/gPSUfjkh

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Well here is update on the project we can share, its our own IP of Race Track Tycoon (Name is work in Progress). https://lnkd.in/eNy3AZvg Ben showcases the progress we made on Race Track Tycoon after we decided to change from Unreal Engine 5 to Godot engine. And during the time from our last update in late September, Ben has recreated Road Tools and improved upon them from technical point, to create smooth roads with curves function that snap nicely to one another and don't leave holes between each one. We also have a prototype of a Voxel based terrain system, however we have decided not to include it in the update video as Ben put it, it needs a week or two in the oven. While we work on contract work the development will be slower than expected however we are committed to seeing this project reach a demo point within Q1 of 2025 at the latest, and we'll try and have something to show every 2 weeks, however don't hold me to that, it'll depend on our workload. #unreal #engine #godot #work #in #progress #motorsport #race #track #tycoon #builder #update #demo #prototype #update

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This is my train of thought as I was watching WWDC: Vision OS is the first OS to be mentioned at WWDC. Good or bad? I don’t know if that’s a good sign or if a bad one (because it might be short enough). 😅 No matter how much they want to say differently, the “pinch” is not a gaming interface. It’s awkward af and it is really limiting in terms of user experience. Vision OS is bringing wrist gestures a la Meta Quest. VisionOS adds TabletopKit API, special for gaming. Let's see what this means. And this is kinda it for Vision OS. Nothing really on gaming, with the exception of TabletopKit API, which can be really big. I wished on controllers or an additional set of gestures, because otherwise games will be really limited in experience. Imagine playing a first person shooter and... pinching you fingers when you shoot. Try it! It's bad...

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The democratisation of games development and growth in UGC games is in full swing and it’s not just Roblox and Fortnite you need to watch. You might not know about HypeHype now - it launched in the Philippines in 2021 and has now opened up in Canada and Finland - but I think you will hear more because this has just happened… HypeHype, supported by Supercell, has launched an early monetisation scheme for creators, offering them 100% of the net revenue from playtime and in-app purchases, along with a $100,000 competition to encourage more game creation. This initiative rewards creators immediately for player engagement within their games. HypeHype is both a games marketplace and UGC platform. Players can create, remix, and play games from their mobile devices. The platform simplifies game development by shifting it from a lengthy process needing complex software to just a few hours of visual editing accessible via a no-code, mobile-optimised editor. Players can choose to start from scratch or use existing templates and games for remixing, enhancing the creative process. The editor supports a wide range of assets and tools for building games with game logic and 3D graphics, all without requiring any coding skills. Since its introduction in early access, HypeHype has seen a significant uptake, with creators producing over 132,000 games using just their smartphones. With backing from Supercell (who invested $15m in it) HypeHype is banking on game creation as well as features including instant play, live streaming, and community engagement through collaborative editing and competitive leaderboards. Supercell's backing reflects the growing confidence in the democratisation of games and the growth of UGC games which is being spearheaded by Roblox and Fortnite.

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