The subject of AI being used to replace voice actors has been a recurring theme in videogames, with the debate reaching a pinnacle last October when Arc Raiders was released, as it was made clear that Embark Studios used AI to pad out voice lines.
Since then, we’ve heard arguments as to why this isn’t the way forward, with Astarion’s actor Neil Newbon calling it “dull as hell” and the Demonschool devs saying they’d rather “cut off our own arms” than use AI in their games. And now Leon Kennedy’s voice actor, Nick Apostolides, has put in his two cents.
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“AI is here, there’s no turning it off, there’s no dialling it back,” Apostolides says in a recent interview with PC Gamer’s video producer Midas Whittaker. “I think it’s coming at us full speed ahead, and it’s going to have effects on the creative industry, on every industry, a lot for good, but when it comes to art—that is human-born.
“AI generates a lot of content, yes, it can do that, it’s a tool. But for [studios] to feel the need to replace actors when a game can sell 15 million copies or so, as Arc Raiders did, to pay for an actor’s voice session is not that big of a deal.”
Apostolides has just wrapped up work on Resident Evil Requiem. It’s one of the best Resident Evil games I’ve played in a hot minute. It’s a perfect balance of horror, action, puzzles, and stealth is certainly a huge part of what makes it so great, but I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention how fantastic the voice acting is.
Going into Requiem, I knew Apostolides would hit it out of the park as Leon Kennedy, especially after his performance in the Resident Evil 4 remake, but Grace’s actor, Angela Sant-Albano and Victor Gideon’s voice actor, Antony Byrne, were my surprise favourites. I can’t remember the last time I heard a villain’s voice quite as iconic as Byrne’s.
“I think what people love about games today is that they are so human,” Apostolides continues. “The stories are so real, the emotions are real, you get so invested in these characters, and I don’t believe AI can do that. AI can speak lines, but there’s nothing human behind it.”
I couldn’t agree more, you can’t even compare Byrne or Sant-Albano’s performances to the AI voice lines in Arc Raiders. Yes, both have different goals. Requiem is a story game; its performance is its driving feature, while Arc Raiders is less about the story and more about social interactions among players, accompanied by great third person shooting, but it’s still night and day.
But regardless of what you prefer, Apostolides points out that AI is here to stay: “We’re going to have to learn how to evolve with it. And I think things are inevitably going to change in the next few years, but we’re just going to have to navigate this together and roll with it.”
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