Hi-Rez Studios, the people behind Paladins and Smite, have stated that they will be using AI to clone voices and refused to add in any words to contracts that would protect actors from it
So, to anyone who doesn't know, Hi-Rez Studios, the people behind Paladins and Smite, have stated that they will be using AI to clone voices and refused to add in any words to contracts that would protect actors from it. More info in the thread. Please share to other VAs.
Never even heard of them. I went to their website to see what games they make and it all looks like free to play crap that I wouldn't play anyway. Welp, back into the void it goes.
This is what happens when everything on the planet is run by suits who are incapable of seeing anything but the bottom line. Exploit the creatives until they can be replaced by shitty robots that don't do the job half as well but are cheaper to use.
I cry every time. I don't understand why some indie dev hasn't created a mechanical rip off yet, imagine battlebit but instead of battlefield it's tribes. I want to believe it would be huge.
It's not gimmicky enough for modern players. Sure, skiing took skill and you had different armors and loadouts, but aside from that it was still simple.
They already refuse to fix their EAC so that the game can run on Linux so I can't not play their game any more than I already do. I played Paladins briefly when Overwatch was having its China drama and enjoyed it, but I'm done booting Windows to play games.
I definitely think some sort of residuals or compensation for reusing their voice AI should happen if they are profiting off of it.
That being said, I see a world in the very near future where voice actors don't even act out their lines and just say a number of things for recording to train an AI voiced version of themselves. Then directors/creators and just manipulate and use it as they please to create their product.
Some mods in games are getting this already, voiced Morrowind and the like, and I definitely seeing it as a boon. Voice acting has always been a weak point when it came to stuff like that as you can write/script/design the best you can but can lack decent/any voice acting.
Yep, even if they don't clone an existing VA, they'll be able to find others willing to sell their voice for AI, or just have an AI generate a voice from a mixture of different people. The existing VAs will then never be hired.
Accurate and well executed computer voice is a goal of too many technologies to remain unsolved for long. It sucks for the VAs, but there's no way to go back.
This world is already here, and it's not even limited to creative industries. Deutsche Bahn AG, the German railway corporation, has already implemented this for the announcements in their stations.
I will happily continue to not pay for games that do this and I won’t be missing out on anything.
This is on par with restaurants that microwave garbage food. They’re phoning it in to squeeze as much profit as possible out of the product. That tells me you don’t want to make games people enjoy, you want to make games that do nothing but maximize profit. I ain’t here for that shit. I’m willing to pay money for companies that respect art and trades, not ones that worship capitalism and exist to appease assholes in suits.
It will be interesting to see how these kind of things develop over the next few years. Of course, it's very enticing for developers to use AI voices, as they can probably save massive amounts of money through it. Will the voice actors have any options to stop this?
Ugh. I used to love what Hi-Rez put out. Global Agenda was probably my favorite game by them. From my home state as well. They've always made terrible business decisions though. This, of course, is no exception
Fuck Hi-Rez for making a really good Tribes game and then abandoning it for Smite. I sure hope they merely licensed the name and don't hold rights to the entire IP, cuz I want a good, modern Tribes game so bad.
This reduces the minuscule interest I had in replaying Paladins to a negative number. Smite's been nothing but frustrating garbage, but I thought that with a bit of polish and a lot more character development, Paladins had promise when it came out. Starting a labor dispute to begin a practice that will degrade the overall quality of the game means it's not worth my hard disk space to install their products - it's clear things are only going to get worse for Hi-Rez titles from here.
Haven't played for a couple of years now, but honestly loved Paladins and Smite appealed to me in concept (never really had enough time to spare to learn how to play MOBA). While the communities and creatives in and around the games are awesome, it's been known that the higher-ups and some of the management are extremely shitty forever. It's one of the reasons why the games didn't get the attention they deserve, why the promising esports scenes around them are dead etc. Not surprised, but still sad they've decided to fuck over the VAs like that and shoot themselves in the foot once again in terms of reputation