Arc Raiders, the new extraction shooter climbing the charts, reportedly employs AI-assisted tools for portions of its voice work, according to a disclosure from developer Embark Studios. The revelation recalls the debate that erupted around the studio’s 2023 breakout, The Finals.
Released on October 30 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X, Arc Raiders is positioned as a more accessible entry to the extraction-shooter category — an easier on-ramp compared with heavier sims like Escape from Tarkov. Early player response has been largely favorable: the title currently holds a “very positive” Steam rating based on over 8,000 reviews. (At the time of publishing there aren’t enough critic reviews for Metacritic or OpenCritic to register a score.) This follows a second consecutive commercial and critical success for Embark after The Finals.
On its Steam storefront, the game includes an “AI Generated Content” disclosure: “During the development process, we may use procedural- and AI-based tools to assist with content creation. In all such cases, the final product reflects the creativity and expression of our own development team.” That language rekindled comparisons with the studio’s previous controversy.
The Finals — a multiplayer FPS noted for its fluid gunplay and destructible arenas — faced criticism in October 2023 after an audio team member revealed in a podcast that Embark had relied on AI tools for some vocal material (coverage via VGC). Voice actors and developers publicly criticized the choice, arguing that AI-generated lines often sounded inferior to human performances and that such practices could displace professional voice talent. Coverage of that backlash appeared on outlets including IGN.
Embark responded at the time by telling IGN that professional actors were hired to record the game’s lines, and that text-to-speech tools were then used to generate additional variations based on those recordings — a workflow the studio said accelerated production.
Speaking to PCGamesN this week, Arc Raiders design director Virgil Watkins rejected the claim that the game “in any way uses generative AI,” but he did not detail precisely what the Steam notice referred to, noting that those specifics fell outside his remit. He did confirm that the same voice technology used during The Finals development was employed for Arc Raiders.
Watkins explained that the studio “uses that text-to-speech model,” and clarified the practical reasons behind it: actors are contracted with the understanding that TTS may be used, enabling features like a ping system that can vocalize every item name, location name and compass direction without re-recording for each new asset. “That’s how we can add new items without needing someone to come in every time,” he said.
A spokesperson for Embark told Polygon: “We use a combination of recorded voice audio and audio generated via TTS tools in our games, depending on the context. Sometimes recording real scenes where actors interact adds a depth that technology can’t replicate. Other times — particularly for contextual call-outs — TTS lets us deliver tailored VO quickly. Making games without actors isn’t an end goal for Embark and TTS technology has introduced new ways for us to collaborate.”
The reception to AI-assisted voice work during The Finals largely amounted to dissatisfaction among many critics and performers, with coverage at the time describing the reaction as strongly negative (see IGN and Forbes commentary). Early responses to the disclosure in Arc Raiders have been mixed — some players reacted sharply, while others viewed the studio’s approach as reasonable.
On Reddit, one user wrote that “AI voices are a stain on an otherwise incredible game,” focusing less on broader ethical questions and more on perceived drops in voice quality. Another commenter singled out the vocal lines for Shani, the game’s person-in-a-chair character, as immediately noticeable. Conversely, other players defended the practice: “They paid voice actors and used it well,” a different Reddit user argued, calling the implementation ethically acceptable under current industry norms.
As the discussion continues, the debate centers on balancing production efficiency with the expectations of performers and players — and whether hybrid workflows that pair actor recordings with TTS can preserve performance quality while supporting large, dynamic game worlds.
Coverage via VGC · IGN report on the backlash · Embark’s response to IGN · PCGamesN interview with Virgil Watkins · Forbes analysis · Reddit reaction
Source: Polygon
