Arc Raiders Devs ‘Don’t Use Generative AI,’ CCO Says — AI Text-to-Speech Helps ‘Create Rich Worlds’ but ‘There’s No Goal to Replace Actors’

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Strandberg explained that Arc Raiders employs a blend of recorded performances and TTS. “We use a combination of recordings of real actors and TTS,” he said. “So that’s true for this game as well.”

Strandberg sought to reassure fans that Embark is not attempting to sideline voice talent: “There is no end goal of replacing actors,” he said, noting the unique, almost magical quality real performers bring to a game’s lore and characters. Critics, however, argue that incorporating AI voices at all can reduce opportunities that would otherwise go to human actors.

According to Strandberg, AI text-to-speech is a pragmatic studio choice to help a small team create expansive, rich worlds without growing the workforce disproportionately. “We are trying to maximize what we can as a small team building rich worlds, but we don’t use generative AI across other parts of the game,” he added.

Embark CEO Patrick Söderlund echoed that position earlier this month, suggesting AI tools could let the studio produce content far faster while still emphasizing that the human contribution remains essential.

The Finals is still going strong and Arc Raiders is about to release, but Embark Studios has two other projects it hasn’t even announced yet: “One of the concepts we have has a lot more edge to it.”