Arc Raiders Reduces AI Voice Lines, Studio Head Prefers Professional Actors
When Arc Raiders debuted last fall, it garnered a lot of positive feedback but also faced some criticism for its use of AI-generated voices, similar to the previous title from the same developer. In a recent chat, studio head Patrick Söderlund revealed that Arc Raiders now features fewer AI voice lines and emphasized that AI serves primarily as a “production tool” during development.
“We re-recorded some lines after launch using real voice actors,” Söderlund explained. Certain lines for the in-game ping system were initially created with an AI text-to-speech model based on the voices of actors hired for the game. This approach was seen as more efficient than repeatedly bringing voice actors into the studio for each update of the live-service extraction shooter.
Söderlund noted a significant quality difference between AI-generated lines and those from professional voice actors. “A real professional actor is better than AI; that’s just how it is.” He clarified that Embark views AI as a means to test various lines before committing to recordings, stating, “It’s also a way for us to work, not replace actors. We don’t necessarily believe in replacing humans with AI all the time.”
He also tackled concerns that using AI voices might be a way to avoid fair compensation for voice actors. “We pay our actors for all time spent with us in the booth and continue to bring many of them back as we update the game.” For “select usage,” Embark compensates voice actors for licensing their voices for the text-to-speech program.
The interview offers an intriguing glimpse into game development. Discussing the creation of landscapes for Arc Raiders, Söderlund remarked, “Very little of it is AI. A lot of it is reconfiguring what I believe are old ways of working — old toolsets, old pipelines, old engines, and saying there must be a better way of doing this.”
While Embark’s reliance on AI for voice lines may be decreasing, the CEO of its publisher believes that AI’s presence in game development is widespread. Nexon CEO Junghun Lee stirred some controversy last year by stating, “I think it’s important to assume that every game company is now using AI.” This claim was met with skepticism from other developers.
Regardless, the conversation around AI and its potential applications in game development is far from over. It was a hot topic at this year’s Game Developers Conference, even though the industry is still figuring out how to effectively integrate it.
