Ever since Oblivion became the first fully-voiced Elder Scrolls game, the series' huge open worlds have been known for their surprisingly small number of voices. The fact that almost all male Imperials in Oblivion share one highly distinct voice—including the huge number of in-game guards—quickly became a meme that has lasted to this day. The number of voice actors increased in Skyrim, but it still doesn't take long at all for players to realize just how many repeating voices there are in the game. Many fans understandably suspect that The Elder Scrolls 6 will continue the trend.
It would be nearly impossible for Bethesda to give all of the NPCs in its open-world games unique voices in the traditional way—hiring that many voice actors would be a logistical nightmare. The use of repeating voices also helps Bethesda take advantage of generic dialogue that characters can share when they aren't talking about things specific to their character. One industry trend, however, could completely change the way The Elder Scrolls 6 handles its voice acting. Here's how AI could transform the voices of Tamriel in The Elder Scrolls 6.
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Game developers have been using artificial intelligence to generate character voices for years, and it has proven particularly useful when developing RPGs with large worlds and hundreds of characters. Obsidian Entertainment's studio audio director Justin Bell spoke in a video for AI voice developer Sonantic's Youtube channel in March to discuss the way the studio had used AI voices in the development of sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds.
Demonstrating the software Obsidian used, Bell showed how AI could recreate a performer's voice with extreme accuracy. He also showed that developers were able to adjust the tone of the AI voice, as well as the extent of that tone's effect. The tonal options included neutral, expressive, anger, fear, happy, sad, and shouting, each with its own low, medium, and high-intensity options.
Obsidian initially used this technology during the development process to ensure that a line fit will within a scene, and then took the lines back to the voice-over artists for the final cut. The AI voices are so believable, however, that it's easy to see how developers could begin using AI voices for their characters without getting actors to record any lines once the AI has enough samples to generate a copy of their voice.
Bell describes how this process "empowers" the developers when creating their story, but for many voice actors, the implications are very different. This came to the forefront back in April, when a mod for The Witcher 3: The Wild hunt titled "A Night to Remember" recreated Geralt of Rivia's voice using AI software CyberVoice without the involvement of Geralt's voice actor Doug Cockle. Voice actor Jay Britton from Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Total War: Warhammer 2 took to Twitter to voice concerns: "Yes, AI might be able to replace things but should it? We literally get to decide. Replacing actors with AI is not only a legal minefield but an utterly soulless choice."
Unfortunately for many video game voice actors, however, it seems likely that AI technology is here to stay. It also seems unlikely that many developers will be able to resist the economic incentives, cutting down on the amount of studio time needed for voice actors and giving their writers far more flexibility to add and edit dialogue on the fly throughout a game's development.
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This technology could have a huge effect on a series like The Elder Scrolls, which is known for populating its worlds with just a handful of actors. AI technology could allow The Elder Scrolls 6 to have a far greater variety of in-game dialogue, and AI tweaking could allow for a wider range of voices to be heard in-game, making every character feel truly unique.
It would also allow The Elder Scrolls writers to generate as many lines as they can type. When Bethesda first embarked on a fully-voiced Elder Scrolls game with Oblivion, the number of unique dialogue options and NPC responses decreased in comparison to the generally text-based dialogue in Morrowind. Voice AI could reverse that trend, with players getting access to a far greater number of questions they can ask and comments they can make in-game, with AI cutting back on the cost of recording responses for all the unique NPC dialogue those options demand.
The Elder Scrolls 6 isn't due to come out until after Starfield's 2022 release, and Todd Howard has said that the game is still in the "design phase," likely indicating that fans will have to wait until at least a few years. With AI technology improving all the time, that only makes the use of AI voices in The Elder Scrolls 6 more likely.
This technology can also be very useful to modders as the creators of A Night to Remember have demonstrated. The ability to create in-game audio that perfectly mimics the other voices found in The Elder Scrolls 6 could become a core part of the game's Creation Kit, allowing modders to create new stories without ever recording a line of dialogue. Earlier this year a voice AI mod named xVASynth was released, with versions for Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind. Each version allowed players to approximate the voices of the game's performers. The results were more noticeably robotic than the system used by Obsidian, but it seems very likely that Bethesda, like Obsidian, could create voices that are practically indistinguishable from the real thing.
A shift towards AI voice acting has already proven controversial, but with financial and storytelling incentives behind it, the use of AI voices will likely only grow more common, particularly in open-world games. Just how much this will impact The Elder Scrolls 6 has yet to be seen, but it's clear Bethesda has a big opportunity, as well as some serious ethical questions to consider.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development.
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