Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund has revealed that Arc Raiders replaced some of its AI-generated voice lines with professional actors after the game's successful October launch. The extraction shooter, which peaked at nearly half a million users on Steam, initially used text-to-speech AI for certain lines, though Söderlund acknowledged that 'a real professional actor is better than AI; that's just how it is.'

While the game avoided generative AI for visuals, Embark Studios had paid actors to license their voices for the text-to-speech system. The studio defended this choice by saying the AI was reserved for lines 'that aren't as essential to the immersion of the experience,' but player backlash was significant enough to prompt a reversal. Many gamers expressed dissatisfaction with the creative decision despite the game's commercial success.

Söderlund told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio is now bringing voice actors back into the recording booth and will 'continue to bring many of them back as we carry on updating the game.' However, the use of 'some' when describing replaced lines suggests Embark Studios isn't completely abandoning its text-to-speech AI system yet, maintaining a hybrid approach to voice acting in the multiplayer title.