Embark Studios Replaces AI Voice Lines in Arc Raiders With Human Actors After Player Backlash, CEO Admits Professionals Are 'Better Than AI'

Embark Studios has replaced a significant portion of the AI-generated voice lines in its cooperative shooter Arc Raiders with dialogue recorded by professional human actors, CEO Patrick Söderlund confirmed in mid-March. The reversal follows months of player criticism over the game’s use of text-to-speech technology and comes after the title sold 14 million copies since its October 2025 launch.

From AI Controversy to Human Performances

Arc Raiders debuted with extensive use of AI-generated voice acting, a decision that drew immediate backlash from players and industry figures alike. The game peaked at nearly 500,000 concurrent users on Steam, according to Engadget, but the synthetic quality of its dialogue became a persistent point of criticism even as the gameplay itself earned praise.

Söderlund told reporters that the studio has “re-recorded some of the lines post-launch and made them with real voices,” resulting in fewer AI-generated lines than at release. His assessment of the quality difference was blunt: “A real professional actor is better than AI; that’s just how it is,” he said, according to Kotaku.

A Partial Shift, Not a Full Reversal

Despite the headline concession, Embark has not entirely abandoned AI-generated audio. The studio retains text-to-speech technology for what it calls non-essential lines, primarily the ping system that announces item names, location markers, and compass directions. For these limited applications, Embark pays voice actors for approval to license their voices through text-to-speech, as reported by PC Gamer.

Söderlund emphasized that the studio compensates its performers: “We pay our actors for all time spent with us in the booth and continue to bring many of them back as we carry on updating the game.” The studio frames its use of generative AI as “first and foremost a production tool” for internal development rather than a permanent substitute for human talent.

Industry Ripple Effects

The Arc Raiders voice acting debate has reverberated across the games industry since the title’s launch. Actor Neil Newbon, known for voicing Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3, previously called the AI-generated performances “dull as hell” and questioned why a commercially successful studio would not reinvest in human actors, PC Gamer reported. The controversy also prompted responses from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and Arrowhead Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt, underscoring the lack of industry consensus on where machine learning tools end and generative AI begins.

The situation illustrates a broader tension in game development: studios face pressure to reduce costs with AI tools while players and performers push back against perceived quality compromises. Embark’s path — launching with AI voices, achieving commercial success, then selectively replacing them — may become a template for other developers navigating similar decisions.

Arc Raiders was developed on what Söderlund described as “a quarter of the budget of a AAA title,” a figure that partly explains the initial reliance on AI-generated audio, according to Engadget. With 14 million units sold, the studio now has the revenue to invest in human performances — a dynamic that raises questions about whether AI voice acting served as a bootstrapping measure rather than a long-term creative choice.