James Lucas is an Executive Editor from Newcastle, England. They have written for sites like IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, with a special focus on FPS games, Soulslikes, and survival horror.
Arc Raiders is a game about mankind pushing back against the machines who are trying to replace them, but in a twisted fate of irony, the game itself used AI in place of human voices, sparking a fiery debate around the practice.
Embark tried to dispel the backlash by explaining that it had each actor’s permissions to use their likeness, and that it was easier to use an AI-based text-to-speech program than booking new recording sessions. Most were unconvinced by these excuses, worrying that such a practice would only normalise AI and risk careening into a future where actors are cut out of the creative process entirely.
PCGamesN sat down with actor Neil Newbon, who has held firm on his anti-AI stance these last few years, to discuss this debate amid the likes of Arc Raiders, Where Winds Meet, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and he is just as unconvinced by these justifications.
“The amount of money it costs to do those voice lines compared to the rest of the game’s development is peanuts,” he said, arguing that, while he can’t comment on the specifics of Arc Raiders, using AI to manipulate someone’s voice is “robbing that performer of that day’s fee”.
“Most actors, notoriously, are not rich,” Newbon continued. “Most of us struggle our entire career.”
Get Them In The Booth And Re-Record That Stuff
In fact, Newbon argues that, if a game does use AI voice acting as a way to save money and time, developers should go back and re-record those lines with human voices if the game proves to be a success, which Arc Raiders clearly was, boasting four million copies sold and an all-time peak of over 480,000 players.
“When a game’s successful, I don’t really get why [developers] don’t go, ‘Well, at the time we couldn’t afford to do it – it was too much or too difficult – but now we’ve been super successful, why don’t we go back and actually redo the lines with actors?’ That’s an option; I’m just saying,” Newbon explained.
Maybe find a way, now that you’ve made your money, to go back over those lines and do it better.
While it won’t hold true forever, as AI continues to improve at alarming speeds, Newbon noted that right now, AI voices are unconvincing, and ring hollow compared to a real performance. Going back over the text-to-speech lines would only enhance the game, not only making it the decent thing to do, but something that would strengthen the title’s longevitity.
Most performers, like the award-winning Jennifer English, got their start with smaller parts; replacing these minor roles with AI risks pulling the ladder up from under actors.
“I don’t really care about generative AI, because it sounds crap,” he said. “No matter how advanced it’s getting, it still sounds not right. And I would say to anyone who made a sh*t ton off a release that uses generative AI for voices: maybe go back to those actors you paid however much money to clone their voices, maybe get them in the booth and re-record that stuff. Just saying. You’ve got the money now, spread the wealth.”
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Seems like every other week a BG3 VA interjects themselves into controversy for no reason.
2025-12-18 14:56:47
Too bad that a slopgame like Arc Raiders is currently so popular. Other devs will follow suit because of the competitiveness of the industry. I will finally have time for my backlog without spending money nor time on this.
2025-12-20 07:28:43
