Excellent month for me. Had my eye on Still Wakes the Deep, Thanks Goodness You're Here and Pacific Drive for a long while, backlog has just been too big to justify buying them. Also looking forward to taking MotoGP for a spin, not played a bike racer since the version on the PS Vita.
I created this account in June 2025, my forward planning is not that good.
I find this an interesting article. You make good points on the negatives of AI but we know AI isn't going anywhere so it's worth discussing implementations of it. This seems like a sensible use of it for a live service game where constant updates are needed to voice new items they add. If that doesn't negatively impact the voice actor and makes the studio more sustainable, all the better.
@SeaDaVie "Yes, they hire people to say some lines and then they use AI to replicate those voices and create new lines whenever they want to, without ever hiring any additional voice acting work. I'm pretty sure everyone gets exactly how it works."
Or an accurate way of summarising it in this scenario - A human voice actor enters into a contract with the company for their voice acting services and are fully aware that their voice will be used with AI to generate additional lines.
"It's basically hiring someone for a days work, instead of, say, 10, and then using AI to generate the other 9 days of work."
Correct, with the voice actors full prior knowledge and agreement for which they have been compensated.
"If you're against AI replacing people in creative roles then you should be against this."
Except the person isn't being replaced here - they are working with the company to provide their voice acting skills where needed and their voice for future contextual lines. That seems like a sensible implementation of AI - and critically - an approach the voice actor has agreed to.
"...we hire and contract voice actors for it — it's part of their contract that we use it [AI] for this purpose, and that allows us to do things like our ping system, where it's capable of saying every single item name, every single location name, and compass directions. That's how we can get that without needing to have someone come in every time we create a new item for the game."
"We use a combination of recorded voice audio and audio generated via TTS tools in our games, depending on the context," a representative for Embark Studios told Polygon in a statement. "Sometimes, recording real scenes where actors get together — allowing character chemistry and conflict to shape the outcome — is something that adds depth to our game worlds that technology can’t emulate. Other times, especially when it relates to contextual in-game action call-outs, TTS allows us to have tailored VO where we otherwise wouldn't e.g. due to speed of implementation. Making games without actors isn’t an end goal for Embark and TTS technology has introduced new ways for us to work together."
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Re: 3 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for December 2025 Leaked Early
@ErrantRob Ubisoft+ Classics in included in PS Plus Extra so they always turn up eventually
Re: 9 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for November 2025 Announced
Excellent month for me. Had my eye on Still Wakes the Deep, Thanks Goodness You're Here and Pacific Drive for a long while, backlog has just been too big to justify buying them. Also looking forward to taking MotoGP for a spin, not played a bike racer since the version on the PS Vita.
Re: As ARC Raiders Takes Off, Developer Embark Defends Its Use of AI Tools
@SeaDaVie Thanks for the warm welcome.
I created this account in June 2025, my forward planning is not that good.
I find this an interesting article. You make good points on the negatives of AI but we know AI isn't going anywhere so it's worth discussing implementations of it. This seems like a sensible use of it for a live service game where constant updates are needed to voice new items they add. If that doesn't negatively impact the voice actor and makes the studio more sustainable, all the better.
Honestly, I don't understand your hostility.
Re: As ARC Raiders Takes Off, Developer Embark Defends Its Use of AI Tools
@SeaDaVie "Yes, they hire people to say some lines and then they use AI to replicate those voices and create new lines whenever they want to, without ever hiring any additional voice acting work. I'm pretty sure everyone gets exactly how it works."
Or an accurate way of summarising it in this scenario - A human voice actor enters into a contract with the company for their voice acting services and are fully aware that their voice will be used with AI to generate additional lines.
"It's basically hiring someone for a days work, instead of, say, 10, and then using AI to generate the other 9 days of work."
Correct, with the voice actors full prior knowledge and agreement for which they have been compensated.
"If you're against AI replacing people in creative roles then you should be against this."
Except the person isn't being replaced here - they are working with the company to provide their voice acting skills where needed and their voice for future contextual lines. That seems like a sensible implementation of AI - and critically - an approach the voice actor has agreed to.
Re: As ARC Raiders Takes Off, Developer Embark Defends Its Use of AI Tools
@nessisonett
Quote on Polygon from Embark's Design Director:
"...we hire and contract voice actors for it — it's part of their contract that we use it [AI] for this purpose, and that allows us to do things like our ping system, where it's capable of saying every single item name, every single location name, and compass directions. That's how we can get that without needing to have someone come in every time we create a new item for the game."
"We use a combination of recorded voice audio and audio generated via TTS tools in our games, depending on the context," a representative for Embark Studios told Polygon in a statement. "Sometimes, recording real scenes where actors get together — allowing character chemistry and conflict to shape the outcome — is something that adds depth to our game worlds that technology can’t emulate. Other times, especially when it relates to contextual in-game action call-outs, TTS allows us to have tailored VO where we otherwise wouldn't e.g. due to speed of implementation. Making games without actors isn’t an end goal for Embark and TTS technology has introduced new ways for us to work together."