Arc Raiders Has Started Replacing AI Voices With Human Ones Which CEO Admits Are Better [View all]
https://kotaku.com/arc-raiders-replaced-ai-generated-content-human-recorded-dialogue-voices-2000678774
Arc Raiders was one of the biggest games of 2025, and it continues to be incredibly popular on Steam. But its use of AI-generated voice lines rubbed many the wrong way. Now, Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund says the team has replaced many of the text-to-speech lines with real human-recorded dialogue that is better than the AI slop featured at launch.
When Embarks extraction shooter Arc Raiders launched in October on consoles and PC, it became one of the most-played games around and received rave reviews from critics and fans. Yet there was some tension around the games release when it was revealed that many of the in-game voice lines heard when pinging a location were created using AI text-to-speech built using audio provided by actors who were paid a licensing fee. For some, this was not acceptable and marred the launch of Arc Raiders. The CEO of Nexon, the games publisher, said all studios were using AI tools, and thats just the way it is. But Söderlund and his team seem to be reversing course a bit.
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We re-recorded some of the lines post-launch and made them with real voices, Söderlund told the outlet, clarifying that they dont want to replace real performers.
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The big takeaway here is that Söderlund seems to understand that AI-generated content is still not popular among players and is trying to reassure people that Arc Raiders has less of it than before. But it still contains and will likely continue to use text-to-speech voice lines, and for some players, that will remain a dealbreaker.
I love seeing the backlash against genAI working.