One developer behind a fabulous recent roguelike is planning to add voice acting post-launch, and he's strongly intent on doing it the old-fashioned way: with actual human voices.
Aaron San Filippo, the director of Whisker Squadron: Survivor, a self-styled "cosmic roguelite on-rails shooter" which many have affectionately compared to Nintendo's iconic Star Fox series, says he understands the technical appeal of AI-generated voice acting, but argues that the creative and ethical cons outweigh the pros.
"My goal is to add VO to Whisker Squadron: Survivor and we're not going to use fucking AI to do it," said Filippo in a Twitter post Wednesday. "I will find the money to pay humans and it will be awesome. AI voices are a technical marvel, and also like most current AI creative endeavors, lifeless and ethically dubious."
- Split Fiction's Josef Fares thinks game devs should embrace AI: "I can understand the fact that some people could lose their jobs, but that goes for every new technology"
- Harrison Ford says Troy Baker's "brilliant" Indiana Jones and the Great Circle performance is proof "you don’t need artificial intelligence to steal my soul"
The rapid rise in AI-generated content has sparked a contentious debate about the implications for the future of the video game industry, particularly in development and voice talent. Back in November, voice actors from Star Wars to Starfield spoke out about Microsoft's potentially devastating decision to partner with a company to help generate AI character dialogue, and just this week, another group of high-profile video game actors slammed US union SAG-AFTRA's new agreement with an AI voice tech company.
The outspoken Filippo previously made headlines in October when Whisker Squadron: Survivor added an accessibility feature which, for whatever reason, sparked some small, sad outcry in Steam reviews. Filippo responded: "Sorry, not sorry."
Looking for something new to play? Here are some of the best PC games available today.
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Balatro creator initially considered a Steam release in part to help "get a game developer job somewhere," and after 5 million sales I'd say he found one
