Support NeoGAF

[LectureMaster]

Baldur's Gate 3 performer says developers don't value voice actors as much as the audience does

"I feel like we weaponize social media and algorithms to do that, because I think we're still seen as outsources for a lot of the time"

www.gamesindustry.biz

---

The performer behind Baldur's Gate 3's Karlach, Samantha Béart, has lamented the "disconnect" that exists between how developers and the audience perceive them.

Speaking to GamesRadar at the Golden Joystick Awards, the performer said that she feels like game creators do not see voice actors as part of the team.

"There's a weird disconnect between, maybe, developers' attitude towards where we fit in the ecosystem – where we're not actually part of the team – versus the players, who very much see us as the forefront," she said.

Béart said that voice actors need to take the lead on promoting themselves as she feels like the studios involved are not going to do that for them. "I feel like we weaponize social media and algorithms to do that," she said.

Baldur's Gate 3 launched into Early Access back in 2020 before a 1.0 launch hit in 2023. The game sold 2.5 million units prior to full release and has gone on to sell over 15 million units. When it did launch into 1.0, it quickly hit 800,000 concurrent players on Steam.

Since its release, the game has won numerous prizes, including a Hugo Award. In June 2024, developer and publisher Larian Studios introduced mod support for the game; since then, over 100 million mods have been downloaded.

The value of voice actors remains a contested topic within the games industry. In July 2024, members of the US performers union, SAG-AFTRA, went on strike over the potential use of artificial intelligence in the space; actors wanted to have assurances that companies would not use their performances to train models that would ultimately replace them. The strike ended in July of the following year.

More recently, Swedish studio Embark has come under scrutiny over its use of AI to generate voice lines within the recently released and highly popular Arc Raiders, while developer Aspyr has also been in the spotlight for allegedly using AI to replicate voice acting in the remasters of Tomb Raider 4-to-6.

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Critical Role may have a word or two with you though.

Talent management is a big issue in gaming industry on multiple levels.

 

[The Cockatrice]

This is not universally true as most developers are also gamers who appreciate good voice actors and the reality is a lot of them love to see their characters being brought to life thanks to voice acting.

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[Nocty]

I hate to say it, but hearing how good the latest AI voiceover tech is and how rapidly it's improving I don't think many studios will use real voice actors in the future.

The immense effort and cost put in for baldurs gate 3 to voice act everything will be trivial and low to zero cost in the near future and not detectable by most people.

You all think you can tell an AI voice now but wait a bit longer.

 

[ClanOfNone]

lol, I didn't particularly like Karlach, but I didn't think any of the BG3 part members were that great.
VO is such a mixed bag for me, especially in text heavy games like RPGs. I generally end up turning on subtitles so I can read and skip through cutscenes quicker.
Companions is another area where Owlcat really eats Larian's lunch. The party characters in the Pathfinder and Rogue Trader are way more varied and interesting than what we got in BG3.

 

[Robb]

versus the players, who very much see us as the forefront

Only time I think about the voice acting is if the actor changes between games and it sounds significantly different, or if it's just terrible to begin with.

I'll be going into Metroid Prime 4 on Thursday hoping I can mute everyone.

 

[calico]

I have come across Samantha on discord. She seems nice.

Great voice actors can make a huge difference, though more so for some types of games than for others.

The disconnect she speaks of likely exists, but I don't think it's too weird or surprising.

 

[Labadal]

Do programmers enginers, and other such team members get praised? Usually not.

 

[simpatico]

Not true. The only voice actor I can attribute any value to is Solid Snake. Now if you asked me how much extra I would spend on it to keep the original voice actor, I'm afraid that sum would not exceed $10. Voice acting is the first area AI should be used to cut costs. This might be different if I attributed any value whatsoever to the stories in video games. I think the rate of actual good stories in games is also in the single digit percentages. A good year would net us one, maybe 2.

So yeah, devs, publishers, this is the first place you can save some dough. I'm here for the video game part, I don't give a shit who you pay to read the terrible script your former lead programmer wrote. I think most people skip cutscenes.

 

[IDKFA]

I'm in a minority.

Video games are a terrible medium for narrative story telling, so personally I couldn't give a shit about voice actors in video games. Might as well just have the devs read the lines, or random Joe Bloggs off the street. It makes no odds to me.

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

Give me AI voice overs. I could care less.

 

[Poppinfresh]

I couldn't give a shit about voice actors in video games.

Same.

I look forward to AI replacing every single one of them.

 

[ClanOfNone]

I'm in a minority.

Video games are a terrible medium for narrative story telling, so personally I couldn't give a shit about voice actors in video games. Might as well just have the devs read the lines, or random Joe Bloggs off the street. It makes no odds to me.

I wouldn't say the medium is terrible for narrative story telling, but I would say the medium is filled with terrible writers.

 

[rm082e]

I haven't played BG3 and I'm not familiar with her work, so I can't speak to the value she brings to a game. But in general, I agree with what she's saying.

When VO actors are great, they can really make the game for me. But at least 90% of the time, they're either forgettable, or noticeably bad. I always appreciate good voice actors and hope they're being paid well for their performances ( I know they aren't).

For sure they have to be aggressive in promoting their work. This is just the reality of the business.

 

[thief183]

Why should devs be in contact with them? In the work place there are no friends, we work togheter and if everyone does his/her job well everything goes well.

This is just some "hey look at me" type of post made by someone not used to a "real" job.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

I'm in a minority.

Video games are a terrible medium for narrative story telling, so personally I couldn't give a shit about voice actors in video games. Might as well just have the devs read the lines, or random Joe Bloggs off the street. It makes no odds to me.

Quite the contrary. Videogames put the viewer in an active protagonist role, which helps them to connect to characters much better. In a videogame you don't need one single line of text to tell a moving story. Gameplay, visuals and music are enough. Other stories, like Nier Automata, can only be fully realized in the shape of a videogame.

This is a great medium when there are good writers and musicians (another integral part to a great narrative experience) involved. You can tell the difference immediately.

 

[mdkirby]

I mean the devs are right, in the way that any temporary freelance employee is not part of the team in the same way as a full time salaried employee of a company.

On is in theory at least permanent, there every day through the whole project and beyond.

A voice actor is there as a part time gig for a few months.

They are still part of the team, but not in the same way.

But from the public's perspective they are very much front and center in the player experience vs the work of technical animator #4 who mostly worked on tools development for contextually aware picking up of objects. Or Debbie from accounting.

As for the topic of ai, yes, they aren't safe from ai, but neither is Debbie from accounting or practically anyone else.

Edit: ai is interesting in this dynamic. Debbie would be harder to let go, as a salaried employee, as employee protections make it trickier. A freelance voice actor, you simply don't hire again. However, they are "the voice" of an established character, so if you still want to keep that voice, but want to use ai, you would need to negotiate that with them and draw up a contract, ie we can train an ai on your voice exclusively for the use in X game" the voice actor could demand a fair sized payout, and literally not need to do any work at all. Or the company could change the voice for free and use 100% ai, but changing the voice especially for such reasons would get fan pushback.

 

[diffusionx]

Why are so many people involved with this game so obnoxious now

 

[Spukc]

Do programmers enginers, and other such team members get praised? Usually not.

progranmer enginers are like mushrooms..
you keep em in the dark and feed them shit

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Why should devs be in contact with them? In the work place there are no friends, we work togheter and if everyone does his/her job well everything goes well.

This is just some "hey look at me" type of post made by someone not used to a "real" job.

It's not a matter of "being friends" but having a common artistic vision. Everyone involved in the narrative, VA and music composers should be part of the team. One of the reasons why Team Cherry succeeded is Christopher Larkin, who plays a bigger role than "sound and music designer". He's fully aligned with the others and that permeates into the game, where music, sounds and silences happen at the exact right times to enhance the experience. You can tell when somebody is part of the team from those who are just hired to do a job. The difference is night and day.

 

[Holammer]

Yes, good voice acting elevates games. SWTOR had a bunch of good ones, and I really enjoyed the performances of the the female Imperial Agent and the male Sith Warrior. I kinda wanted to play female trooper just because Jennifer Hale did the voice, a voice actor legend and she knocked it out of the park in Planescape Torment as Fall-from-Grace.

That said... I, for one, welcome AI generated voices in the future. Just because it's so much cheaper and easier to reiterate stuff without putting them in the booth again to get new lines, there's no scandals because they talk shit about or support controversial country/leader and fight with taxi drivers for social clout.

 

[Embearded]

Read only what is in the OP and not the article and i don't understand what does she mean exactly.
Of course the player will appreciate you more than the developers. For the players you are the immediate point of interface with the game, for the developers you are not.

And no, you shouldn't rely on algorithms and social media to promote your work. You need to actively chase it by knocking on doors, casting and sending samples / demos.
Not everyone will find work as easily as Troy Baker, but that's how it works.

It feels to me she is more disconnected from reality than developers are with her.

 

[poodaddy]

Only time I think about the voice acting is if the actor changes between games and it sounds significantly different, or if it's just terrible to begin with.

I'll be going into Metroid Prime 4 on Thursday hoping I can mute everyone.

I literally never think of voice actors. Ever.

Forefront.....huh.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

She did an incredible job as Karlach — easily the most charismatic character in the entire game. I even chose the ending where you go to Hell with her, because real friends stick together!

That said, I imagine part of the reason studios avoid heavily promoting the actors is the fear of tying their product too closely to a person who may not return for a sequel. If an actor becomes strongly associated with a character, and then for whatever reason isn't brought back in the future, it can create a negative reaction among fans. Another factor is the risk of an actor becoming involved in a controversy, which could reflect poorly on the studio.

So the solution really is this: actors need to take the initiative to promote their own work instead of expecting studios to do it for them.
With that in mind, I genuinely wish her all the success in the world, and I hope to see (or hear) her in many other games!

 

[Fbh]

Eh, voice actors are basically external contractors. I think it's natural you aren't going to be seen as "a part of the team" to the same extent as people that are actually permanently hired by the studio, specially if you are "just" doing the voice acting and not the whole performance capture.

I also think they are overestimating how much the audience "values" them. You aren't movie starts, people will actually check out a movie that wasn't on their radar because Dicaprio is in it. I've never heard anyone say "I wasn't interested in this game, but I'll check it out because Samantha Béart is in it"

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

It amazes me how voice actors for games, think theyre the star of the game and not the game itself.

Nobody is ever buying a game because it has a particular voice actor in it. You are not Hollywood A Listers selling a movie.

 

[IDKFA]

Quite the contrary. Videogames put the viewer in an active protagonist role, which helps them to connect to characters much better. In a videogame you don't need one single line of text to tell a moving story. Gameplay, visuals and music are enough. Other stories, like Nier Automata, can only be fully realized in the shape of a videogame.

This is a great medium when there are good writers and musicians (another integral part to a great narrative experience) involved. You can tell the difference immediately.

As somebody who reads and watches films, I'll have to disagree.

With a film, book or TV show, you are being told the story passively. How stories are supposed to be told. Video games are interactive. With a video game, gameplay has to come above any shoehorned story.

With video games, you might get a five minute cut scene with some exposition dump, then it's 30-40 mins of running around killing things, before another three minute cut scene and so on.

Unlike, books and screen, video games were not designed for story telling.

I'm going to guess you won't agree with the above. That's fine. We'll agree to disagree.

 

[Embearded]

Eh, voice actors are basically external contractors. I think it's natural you aren't going to be seen as "a part of the team" to the same extent as people that are actually permanently hired by the studio, specially if you are "just" doing the voice acting and not the whole performance capture.

+ Her character is not part of an ongoing series with multiple entries and sequels in the works.
She could very well never work with Larian again for multiple reasons.

 

[El Hee-Ho]

Shit must be rough for voice actors nowadays. A few already wrote me in case I needed them for my game and it's in alpha state at best. Wonder if the AI thing is fucking up their jobs, in which case best of luck to them.

 

[Magic Carpet]

The audio drector just needs to push the 'girl boss' button for most lines.
Several buttons for 'no passion'.
Random death sound.

 

[calico]

The greatest moment in video game storytelling is the failed double jump they coax you into at the end of Prince of Persia '08. Making use of the interactive nature of games to punctuate a passive story, and make the player feel responsible in a way a passive medium could not.

I do think once you get to a branching story / choice and consequence etc. you are now talking about a different thing entirely. It has ceased to be storytelling.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Give me AI voice overs. I could care less.

Amazon has you covered, at least for animes





cant wait for this lvl of VA to hit video games

 

[StereoVsn]

The issue with VA is that while it immediately detracts if VA is bad, as long as VA is decent, you aren't going to get a lot more clamor for it.

So it's a quandary for VA because it's more of a "good enough" situation.

 

[Griffon]

VA work for two to three days top in a booth while devs slave away at every details of a project for over 4 years... Gee I wonder why VAs don't get the same respect.

 

[Zacfoldor]

I'm in a minority.

Video games are a terrible medium for narrative story telling, so personally I couldn't give a shit about voice actors in video games. Might as well just have the devs read the lines, or random Joe Bloggs off the street. It makes no odds to me.

Try out Dispatch. I think you will discover this isn't true.

I will say that a good VA can make a game. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker carried that series of games and made them much better than they could have been with other VAs.

Witcher 3 would not be nearly as good without Geralt VA. MGS1 is greatly improved by the VA and was a major feature of the game.

Expedition 33, BG3, The Walking Dead, even games like Persona 5 Royal would suck without the awesome VA and also script and localization(these two things being the reason the VA don't get most of the credit). BG3 being fully voiced and Owlcat going that direction with future games should show how important va is for rpgs.

Dispatch is the best though. Best and most movie like storytelling. TWD approached. Games like Until Dawn and The Quarry had the concept, but Dispatch delivered. Thanks to Laura Bailey and Aaron Paul.

 

[phant0m]

I hate to say it, but hearing how good the latest AI voiceover tech is and how rapidly it's improving I don't think many studios will use real voice actors in the future.

The immense effort and cost put in for baldurs gate 3 to voice act everything will be trivial and low to zero cost in the near future and not detectable by most people.

You all think you can tell an AI voice now but wait a bit longer.

AI audio generation is stupid good. It's sad that it's going to cost a lot of those people their craft.

I've been listening to AI covers YT recently and they're largely phenomenal. You'd think they sound sterile, soulless, devoid of 'character' - nope. I hate how good it is.

Just listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBhcmq86laE&list=PLCDhCt4dj8oIqYvFV4UyhtfedCrRknzV4

 

[The Cockatrice]

Try out Dispatch.

Dispatch? Were you born yesterday? Theres like thousands of high quality incredibly voice acted games out there better than Dispatch and I enjoyed it.

 

[MagiusNecros]

That said... I, for one, welcome AI generated voices in the future. Just because it's so much cheaper and easier to reiterate stuff without putting them in the booth again to get new lines, there's no scandals because they talk shit about or support controversial country/leader and fight with taxi drivers for social clout.

No AI(It's Virtual Projection) in this video but I can see Virtual Projectors and AI Support(such as newscasters or customer service holograms answering questions) in the far future. Especially given this was done in 2010 before they went back to TV Screens.



That said though with the rise of AI usage I can see Voice Synth tech and AI tech being blurred.

In regards to VA/Seiyuus I think they might have to prepare to accept that AI tech will be the way forward. Especially if we can take an awful casting choice for Ada Wong in RE4R and AI can be used to alter it and make something objectively better.

 

[nowhat]

Do programmers enginers, and other such team members get praised? Usually not.

There is, or was, Carmack... but beyond that, a good point. I don't think any single programmer associated with a game has received much appreciation/attention in a long while. Apart from maybe Sean Murray with NMS, for all the wrong reasons (and just to be clear, Hello Games have more than made up for the initial fuckup with that game).

 

[DeepEnigma]

AI audio generation is stupid good. It's sad that it's going to cost a lot of those people their craft.

I've been listening to AI covers YT recently and they're largely phenomenal. You'd think they sound sterile, soulless, devoid of 'character' - nope. I hate how good it is.

Just listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBhcmq86laE&list=PLCDhCt4dj8oIqYvFV4UyhtfedCrRknzV4

I normally avoid AI music slop like the plague, since it often sounds generic and "soulless," but this one slaps as well.

 

[Ceadeus]

That's how you do it folks

 

[Zacfoldor]

Dispatch? Were you born yesterday? Theres like thousands of high quality incredibly voice acted games out there better than Dispatch and I enjoyed it.

Bro I'm not saying Dispatch is the best game ever. I'm saying it does one thing particularly well which is voice acted narrative storytelling. I gave several other examples that also do it well. I will not be shamed for enjoying Dispatch.

My kings:

 

[Poppinfresh]

It amazes me how voice actors for games, think theyre the star of the game and not the game itself.

I grew up playing games before voice acting was even possible in a game.

I could never play another game with voice acting and be perfectly fine.

These voice "actors" overvalue their worth, especially when AI exists and is near indistinguishable from human voice work

 

[IntentionalPun]

I'm in a minority.

Video games are a terrible medium for narrative story telling, so personally I couldn't give a shit about voice actors in video games. Might as well just have the devs read the lines, or random Joe Bloggs off the street. It makes no odds to me.

I'm with you, I am a dialog skipper especially for games that give you a history in text form of the conversation.

 

[MMaRsu]

Understandable

 

[IDKFA]

Try out Dispatch. I think you will discover this isn't true.

Nope. Not for me.

I will say that a good VA can make a game. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker carried that series of games and made them much better than they could have been with other VAs.

Witcher 3 would not be nearly as good without Geralt VA. MGS1 is greatly improved by the VA and was a major feature of the game.

Expedition 33, BG3, The Walking Dead, even games like Persona 5 Royal would suck without the awesome VA and also script and localization(these two things being the reason the VA don't get most of the credit). BG3 being fully voiced and Owlcat going that direction with future games should show how important va is for rpgs.

Dispatch is the best though. Best and most movie like storytelling. TWD approached. Games like Until Dawn and The Quarry had the concept, but Dispatch delivered. Thanks to Laura Bailey and Aaron Paul.

I don't play games for stories and cut scenes. I play games for gameplay. I've never disliked a game because the VA wasn't Hollywood level. Far from it. I couldn't care less about the VA work. All I care about is the gameplay because I'm playing a video game.

If I want an engaging story then I'll pick up a novel or watch a film.

 

[kpopSuperstar]

What do you want???? what is the problem? what do you want them to do? Does she wanna sit with the programmers and chat or what?

 

[Sentenza]

I'm in a minority.

Video games are a terrible medium for narrative story telling, so personally I couldn't give a shit about voice actors in video games. Might as well just have the devs read the lines, or random Joe Bloggs off the street. It makes no odds to me.

I'm going to label this as a delusional take.

A great performance can vastly improve a character and a scene.
Games like Vampire Bloodlines (the original) or the Batman Arkham series wouldn't be half as memorable without some of their voice actors.

Still, it's just that. A performance. Demanding to be considered a core part of the development team is stupid, like it would be stupid for an actor to demand "directing credentials" for starring in a Scorsese movie.