Embark Responds to The Finals AI Criticism: 'Making Games Without Actors Isn't an End Goal'

Of course not. Being able to pump out mediocre games as fast and as cheaply as possible is the end goal.

The fact that this will end up resulting in making games without actors is simply a side-effect.

Yeah it is. Even if it's not theirs.

Having to hire a real human being to represent a made-up character is an obstacle. "Games without actors" are how game development worked for decades. Even long after voice acting was technically possible, a lot of games did not have any, as a design decision. PS1 Final Fantasy games have oodles of full-motion video - but the characters speak exclusively in text.

The expectation of voiced characters adds immense cost, time, and restraint on any game. That is going to change. There is nothing anyone can do to stop it, and any backlash will be short-lived. This fight is already over.

And for anyone worried about the art of acting - look into "style transfer." The shape of a voice actor's throat can become as irrelevant as the shape of a voice actor's face. When any person can sound like any character, all that matters is the performance.