The Finals, a free-to-play game show-themed arena shooter that’s currently in open beta, is taking the heat for an admitted use of artificial intelligence in voicing some of its lines.
Nexon-owned Embark Studios copped to this decision, saying, “We use a combination of recorded voice audio and audio generated via TTS tools in our games, depending on the context.” It went on to note that fully shoving humans aside isn’t the “end goal” of the project.
“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,” the studio said. “Other times, especially when it relates to contextual in-game action call-outs, TTS allows us to have tailored voice over where we otherwise wouldn’t, for example due to speed of implementation.”
Previously, Embark stated that it almost exclusively used AI in The Finals save for a few non-verbal noises. It began to get pushback from both inside and outside of the games industry and subsequently hired voice actors to provide some of the lines.
As Games Industry notes, the use of unregulated AI in video games is one of the hot topics that the SAG-AFTRA strike is discussing.
