Image: made using DALL·E (Custom edited by me)
RSN019
Published 21.07.2025.09.00.MON
Game Engines, Giant AI Bets, Donkey Kong & Global Grudges
Hey crew, Ritik here! What a week: theme-park rides that run on Fortnite tech, an AI startup using India as its launchpad, Netflix quietly letting generative tools topple Buenos Aires, Tesla’s long-delayed Indian debut landing with a thud, and Nintendo giving Donkey Kong the Mario Odyssey treatment. I think things have been a bit stale and quiet for a while, nothing crazy for a while. But even in this time of changes in 2025, small steps are making big waves for the time to come. Let’s have a look at RSN019.
1. Unreal Engine Rewrites Entertainment
“From game code to galaxy tours.”
What’s Happening: Unreal Engine has jumped from gaming to Hollywood and theme parks. Disney’s Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run uses a custom Unreal 4 branch (moving to UE5 for a new Mando-era mission) that renders five synchronized projections reacting to every joystick tug. VFX outfit The Third Floor relies on UE5 for Star Wars’ LED backdrops and for the fully animated Predator: Killer of Killers, where artists turn hundreds of paintings into “moving concept art.” British studio Rebellion is making a Rogue Trooper film entirely in UE5 with MetaHuman rigs, cutting costs versus live-action shoots. Directors praise real-time feedback: first-pass shots now take hours, not weeks, and parallel workflows let lighting and animation teams iterate simultaneously. The upshot: Unreal’s real-time toolset is shrinking budgets, accelerating production, and blurring lines between games, movies, and ride experiences.
Why It Matters to You: Learning Unreal isn’t just for game devs anymore. Expertise in Blueprints, Nanite, or MetaHumans can land gigs on streaming shows, ride simulators, or indie films hungry for real-time talent.
Why It Matters to the World: Cheap, rapid VFX lowers barriers for global studios, diversifying who can make blockbuster-scale content—but it also concentrates creative pipelines in Epic’s ecosystem, raising new questions about licensing power and artistic homogeneity.
2. Perplexity Bets Big on India
“360 million Airtel users get AI search for free.”
What’s Happening: AI-search startup Perplexity inked an exclusive deal with Bharti Airtel to give every subscriber a year of Perplexity Pro ($200 value). Downloads in India already jumped 600% year-on-year, hitting 2.8 million; monthly active users rose to 3.7 million, making India its top market. CEO Aravind Srinivas is dangling grants and mentorship to local builders and has integrated Perplexity into Paytm’s 500 million-user app. Goal: scale a user base where OpenAI’s premium adoption is still small, then monetize later. Challenge: Perplexity’s global in-app revenue last quarter was $8 million versus ChatGPT’s $773 million.
Why It Matters to You: Airtel customers get premium AI answers, PDF digests, and coding help gratis. Developers and marketers gain a massive new audience just learning conversational search.
Why It Matters to the World: If telco bundling proves viable, AI services may shift from $20/month subscriptions to carrier perks, forcing incumbents like Google and OpenAI to rethink distribution—and spotlighting data-localization and exclusivity debates.
3. Netflix’s First Gen-AI Shot
“Buenos Aires collapses—10× faster and cheaper.”
What’s Happening: In hit sci-fi series The Eternaut, Netflix used generative AI to craft a building-collapse sequence, cutting turnaround by 90% versus traditional VFX. A custom diffusion model generated destruction stages, which artists then composited with live footage. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos says AI lets mid-budget shows afford blockbuster visuals and teases wider use for ad placement, dubbing, and mobile chat search.
Why It Matters to You: VFX pros who embrace gen-AI compositing will stay in demand; viewers get bigger spectacle in more countries without ballooning subscription fees.
Why It Matters to the World: Widespread AI-VFX could erode mid-tier artist jobs and intensify debates over training data, credit, and deep-fake misuse, but it also democratizes cinematic tools for emerging markets.
4. Tesla’s Lukewarm India Launch
“Nine-year wait, ₹60 lakh price tag, zero Superchargers.”
What’s Happening: Tesla finally opened a Mumbai showroom, offering imported Model Ys at ₹59.9 lakh ($68k) plus 70% import duty. Early reservation holders from 2016 weren’t invited; many got refunds last year and are now driving Audi e-Trons or Tata Nexons. With only eight planned chargers and no local factory, analysts doubt Tesla will dent India’s EV market, where Tata and MG already assemble locally. Musk’s political antics have further dulled brand sheen among India’s tech elite.
Why It Matters to You: Unless you crave the badge, domestic EVs provide service centers, wider charging networks, and lower prices—while Tesla’s support roadmap remains vague.
Why It Matters to the World: India is the last major auto market without a clear EV leader; Tesla’s missteps show how pricing, infrastructure, and CEO reputation can trump hype when entering complex emerging economies.
5. Donkey Kong Bananza Smashes the Switch 2
“DK gets his own Odyssey—by destroying everything.”
What’s Happening: Nintendo’s EPD Tokyo has unleashed Donkey Kong Bananza, a 20-hour 3D platformer where nearly every surface is destructible. DK rips terrain chunks to use as weapons, surfboards, or puzzle keys, while three “Bananza” forms grant lava-surfing, wall-climbing, and flight. Levels—called Layers—mix chemistry (ice + lava = rock) with vertical exploration and over 500 collectibles. Local co-op lets Player 2 fire Pauline’s vocals via Joy-Con gyro, and Assist Mode softens difficulty for kids. Frame dips exist but stay near 60 fps on Switch 2.
Why It Matters to You: If you own a Switch 2, Bananza is the must-play showcase: endless speed-run routes, family-friendly co-op, and physics sandbox chaos.
Why It Matters to the World: Success could green-light bigger budgets for non-Mario Nintendo IP and inspire other studios to adopt large-scale, real-time destruction mechanics—even on handheld hardware.
My Creative Conclusion
When video-game engines power Star Wars rides, AI search piggybacks on telecom plans, and gorillas demolish physics-rich landscapes, you know boundaries are dissolving fast. Some early adopters feel burned (looking at you, Tesla loyalists), but innovation rarely waits for perfect etiquette. Keep experimenting, keep questioning, and stash a few Banandium Gems for whatever level comes next. Catch you in the following loop!
— Ritik Sharma Founder, RSN (Ritik Sharma Newsletter)