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Based on developer statements from the studio behind the title, Arc Raiders appears to employ AI tools for creating select voice lines. This revelation strongly echoes the debate that emerged around the studio's 2023 hit, The Finals.

Game Overview

Launched on October 30 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, Arc Raiders is positioned as a more accessible introduction to the competitive survival genre. Compared to established behemoths like Escape from Tarkov, it aims to offer a user-friendly adventure. This release has generally earned positive feedback, presently achieving a highly favorable score on digital distribution based on thousands of player reviews.

AI Disclosure

Via the game's official platform description, a notice regarding "AI Generated Content" raises similarities: "During development, we may employ automated and generative technologies to facilitate material generation. In every instance, the resulting game showcases the artistic expression of our creative personnel."

Past Issue

The Finals, a successful multiplayer first-person shooter famous for its fluid combat and destructive environments, faced criticism for its adoption of generative tools ahead of its full release. In its public testing phase, the game's audio designer revealed in a podcast interview that the studio had employed AI tools for creating vocal tracks. This revelation prompted immediate criticism from voice actors and creative personnel, who stated that computer-created dialogue were of reduced caliber compared to actor deliveries and that such approaches could replace voice-acting jobs.

Developer Response

Reacting to feedback, the company stated that they had employed skilled performers to record original spoken content for The Finals, but enhanced these with TTS technology to create extra content modeled after those original recordings. The company's explanation highlighted the significant time savings gained from this method.

Current Situation

About Arc Raiders, the project's design head recently stated that the game does not employ artificial intelligence creation in any form," though he avoided specifics on the exact nature of the Steam disclosure. He did confirm, however, that the identical voice system used for The Finals was also incorporated in Arc Raiders.

"We use a mix of professional actor recordings and content created through synthetic voice systems in our games, according to the requirements," commented a studio representative. "Sometimes, filming actual interactions where performers collaborate — enabling character chemistry and drama to influence the result — is something that provides substance to our virtual environments that systems cannot duplicate. For different situations, especially when it concerns contextual in-game action call-outs, synthetic voice permits us to have tailored VO where we otherwise wouldn't e.g. due to production timelines."

Gamer Feedback

Initial response to the use of AI technology in Arc Raiders has been relatively mixed, notably in the early days. A portion of the community have expressed strong opposition.

• Artificial intelligence dialogue is a blemish on an generally excellent experience," commented one gamer in a community thread.
• I dislike that they did it for The Finals and am disappointed to hear they employed it once more for this release," responded another.
• The effect was instantly apparent in the dialogue delivery for one protagonist," noted a another gamer.

That said, some users have taken a more accepting attitude.

• "Don't give a fuck, they paid voice actors and applied it appropriately," commented one online participant.
• This represents the most responsible as it is possible nowadays, unfortunately," concluded another.

The continuing controversy regarding technology adoption in interactive entertainment appears set to continue as studios weigh creative efficiency with creative quality and moral concerns.