The Witcher 3 expansion uses AI to adjust Geralt’s Polish voiceover because the actor suffered a stroke
Jacek Rozenek consented to AI being used on his voice lines to make them sound like he used to
CD Projekt Red has confirmed that it has used AI to alter some of the voice acting in the upcoming The Witcher 3 expansion, Songs of the Past.
Speaking with Game File, CDPR says that it worked with AI company Respeecher to ensure that Geralt’s Polish lines, performed by longtime Geralt actor Jacek Rozenek, sounded similar to the performance he gave in the base game a decade ago.
Rozenek gave his consent for the voice lines to be edited by Respeecher. The decision was made due to changes to his voice that came about after he suffered from a stroke in 2019, which left him unable to speak. He returned to voice acting in 2022, but this required hours of training a day.
“I was so exhausted after this recording,” says Rozenek, referring to the recording he did for The Witcher 3‘s next-gen update in 2022.
Therefore, he was supportive of Respeecher’s involvement. “The point is that this voice should be as close as possible to my voice from 12 years ago,” he says. “I have great trust…for the creators of this game.”
Following his work on the next-gen update, CDPR called Rozenek back in for the upcoming Witcher 3 expansion, Songs of the Past. When they determined that his voice was too different from how it sounded years prior, the decision was made to work with Respeecher.
Rozenek still recorded all of his new lines for Songs of the Past as he would have done before, but the lines were then sent to Respeecher to match them with how he sounded in the base game. The AI tools used to accomplish this were trained on Rozenek’s previous voice work.
“We basically delivered to Respeecher all the lines that Jacek recorded for us for The Witcher 3,” localisation producer Mikołaj Szwed says. “They created an algorithm of his voice, based on his lines.”
Szwed also acknowledges the ethical concerns surrounding AI, but argues against the critics in this instance. “I do think this is one of those ways where you can use AI ethically, with consent and also to do something good,” he says. He also stresses that this was only considered because of Rozenek’s health issues.
CDPR has used Respeecher’s services previously, as part of Cyberpunk 2077‘s Phantom Liberty DLC. That was because the Polish actor for Viktor Vektor, Miłogost Reczek, had passed away after the base game’s release. Rather than recast him, CDPR opted to create new voice lines with AI, with his family’s consent.
This all comes at a time when AI usage in games is under increased scrutiny. Earlier this week, Big Walk developer House House confirmed that it had used AI towards the end of the game’s development to “help work through difficult technical challenges and bugs”. This admission came after the jury for The Independent Games Festival said it would not vote for a game that “uses generative AI in any capacity”.
Similarly, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had its Game of the Year award revoked by The Indie Game Awards over its own use of generative art for placeholders, some of which was left in the final game before being patched out.
