Video Game Voice-Overs: Breathing Life Into Your Game

By Alan G

Mar 10, 2022

Video Game Voice-Overs: Breathing Life Into Your Game

It has been almost 40 years since Tetris was released to international audiences. The skill-based game was a massive success and is considered one of the pioneers of the video game industry. In 2022, Statista has valued the industry’s global market at 196 billion dollars. Video games have not stopped, and will not stop evolving. Studios moved on from 8-bit graphics to 2D environments. Games now have characters, stories, and worlds to build on. One of the coolest features popped up in 1983, as Disney released the laserdisc game “Dragon’s Lair”. For the first time in video game history, there were actual voices coming out of the characters on the screen. Dragon’s Lair ushered in a new era of voice-overs in video games, much to gamers’ delight. We’ve come a long way from 1983, and voice acting has been an essential part of modern video games for years now. Let’s take a look at some of the best examples of video game voice-overs done right, and some that fell very flat.

Far Cry 3 – The Definition of Insanity (2012)

Ubisoft Montreal’s first-person shooter was a massive success thanks in part to the brilliant graphics, the beautiful environment, and not least of all, the voice acting.

Michael Mando’s role as Vaas was one of the best portrayals of psychotic villains in modern gaming history. His ability to go from a calm and composed character to a complete lunatic in a short space of time underlines why this is one of the best casting decisions ever taken. This scene exemplifies it best, check it out.

The Last of Us – Sarah’s Death (2013)

Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic zombie thriller is widely considered one of the best video games of all time. Its tense atmosphere, terrifying enemies, and complex characters are all big factors into what made this AAA game receive critical acclaim from reviewers worldwide. More importantly, it had arguably the best written story in gaming history.

Gamers are thrown right into the emotionally turbulent game right from the opening sequence, as Sarah, voiced by Hana Hayes, meets a tragic end. Your character Joel, voiced by Troy Baker, delivers a powerful performance filled with feelings of loss, melancholy, and rage at losing his daughter. The perfect display of effective voice acting made to humanize the characters set the tone for an unforgettable video game experience. Check it out!

The House of the Dead 2 – Anytime Goldman shows up on screen (1998)

Of course, you’ve got to take the good with the bad. When we mean bad, we mean really, really bad. The House of the Dead 2 was a fun little shooter arcade game developed by Wow Entertainment in 1998. Of course, in 1998, video game voice-overs did not have such high standards as they do today, and definitely not for arcade games. However, surely someone from the studios should have listened to this twice before okaying the final version? Careful not to get too excited Goldman…

Importance of Proper Localization

A voice-over artist can only do so much without a good script. Naturally, a different script isn’t going to be written for each and every country the video game is going to be released in. Studios will translate their scripts with a varying degree of success. In most cases, studios will have done their homework and given the proper time and effort into script localization. Unfortunately, not all studios value its importance, leading to pretty hilarious results.

Source: https://twinfinite.net/2019/09/6-video-games-that-had-hilariously-terrible-localization/

In a game with such little volume of written text, the Japanese company DataEast released Bloody Wolf in 1988 as a 2D side-scroller shooter. They decided to export their video game to Western markets, changing its name to Battle Rangers. Unfortunately for them, the translation job was a mess.

This is the perfect example of localization making or breaking your video game. Although Battle Rangers was a perfectly good game for its time, it achieved meme status ever since. The only thing this game is remembered for is its botched English. A bad localization job doesn’t just ruin your game in the short term, but gives it the unenvious quality of being remembered for anything but its gameplay or design. To have your video game brand be seen as a running joke in foreign markets would be disastrous for your reputation.

A looming threat for voice-over actors

Jay Britton is a British voice actor renowned for games such as Mafia III, Total War: Warhammer, and Divinity: Original Sin II. He has been outspoken about the dangers of replacing voice actors with AI.

Jay touches on an important factor of voice-acting. “Human creativity”. What is it exactly that gives a product its “human touch”? What draws people to pieces of art and media is the essence that the artist gives it. Voice overs are no exception.

Every individual has a specific way of pronouncing, intonating, and pacing. AI has gotten scary good at replicating human features. However, that’s the problem itself. No matter how accurately AI develops, it’s still just replicating the essence of a human being. AI does not cry, love, shout, laugh, or even feel. The capacity to feel emotions is a foreign concept to technology that we invented ourselves.

While that may be impressive to tech enthusiasts, we are committed to keeping the human element at the core of our voice-overs.

People are flocking towards video game voice-over jobs in big numbers. A total of 7 billion pounds was spent by video gamers in the U.K. alone in 2020. A rising number of players leads to a rising demand for more video games and in turn, voice-over actors. This trend shows very welcome news that the AI voice takeover might not win out after all.

Proper localization of your video game voice-overs needs a thorough understanding of your target market and vast experience with the gaming industry. Choosing your preferred voice actor depends on factors such as tone, gender, pacing, and accent. We offer voices for both in-game audio and external videos for marketing purposes. From youthful apps to AAA blockbusters, we’ve got a voice-over artist ready for whatever market you desire.

In a sea of catastrophes like “House of the Dead 2” and “Battle Rangers”, let your brand be remembered for the powerful voices that brought your game to life. Contact us now!