CD Projekt Red wants Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, codenamed Orion, to undergo a similar evolution to that of The Witcher franchise.
13.10.2023 - 12:57 / rockpapershotgun.com / Tom Hanks
If you've ever spoken to the ripperdoc character Viktor Vektor in the Polish localisation of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion, you've been talking to a cyborg. Technically, of course, most characters in Cyberpunk 2077 are cyborgs, but in this case, I'm referring to one voice actor posing as another using voice-cloning technology, following the second actor's death.
Vektor is voiced in the main game by Miłogost Reczek, who also contributed the voices of Vesemir and Thaler to CD Projekt's Witcher games. Reczek was on board to voice Vektor again in Phantom Liberty, but he died in 2021, while the expansion was in development. As reported by Bloomberg (via Variety), CD Projekt considered hiring a new voice actor to re-record the entirety of Vektor's dialogue. But the studio eventually decided to only record the extra dialogue for Phantom Liberty, and use a fancy new tool, Respeecher, to make the new performance sound like Reczek.
According to CD Projekt localisation director Mikołaj Szwed, Reczek "was one of the best Polish voice talents", and his original performance was simply too "stellar" to record over. Szwed added that CD Projekt sought permission from Reczek's family before going ahead with the plan, and that the actor's sons "were very supportive".
This isn't the first time Respeecher has featured in a videogame. Sony Santa Monica also used the tech to alter Sunny Suljic's performance in God of War Ragnarök, following a break in production during which the adolescent Suljic's voice changed noticeably, rather than re-record all the dialogue.
While examples of voice-cloning like the Ragnarök case make practical sense, the usage of "AI" - an umbrella buzzword for a host of machine generation technologies - to voice videogame characters has attracted justifiable criticism from voice actors themselves. A few weeks ago, US union the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists voted overwhelmingly to authorise a strike against videogame publishers, arguing amongst other things that the "unregulated use of artificial intelligence threatens the very voices and likenesses that form the basis of professional acting careers."
It's a muddier picture when the person in question has died and is no longer able to give or withhold consent or be directly harmed. But there are many ways "synthesising" a dead actor's voice and likeness could be abused, from malignant parties using these tools to traumatise relatives, to scams and misrepresentation of the dead person's beliefs, which could be especially damaging in the context of a famous actor like, say, Tom Hanks.
I can sort of see the argument that using Respeecher helps preserve Reczek's contribution to Cyberpunk
CD Projekt Red wants Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, codenamed Orion, to undergo a similar evolution to that of The Witcher franchise.
Following a notoriously bumpy launch in 2020, CD Projekt Red successfully redeemed and revived Cyberpunk 2077 with several updates and the excellent Phantom Liberty expansion. But the Polish developer supposedly took a “significant” morale hit from the game’s troublesome development and is looking to do things differently with future release, including The Witcher 4.
CD Projekt Red’s Colin Walder had a discussion with Inven Global, and he spoke at length about his career and his time at CD Projekt Red. He also gives some insight into what was going down around the time of Cyberpunk 2077‘s disastrous launch which resulted in it being pulled from the PS Store. The interview isn’t all sour, however, as he also discusses the lessons the studio learned and the changes that occurred.
A new Bloomberg report reveals CD Projekt Red employed AI to recreate the voice of an actor that passed away after the game's release. Speaking to the outlet, CDPR said it reproduced the performance of Miłogost Reczek (who plays V's confidante and Ripper doc Viktor Vektor) for the recently released Phantom Liberty expansion.
CD Projekt Red used AI to replace the voice actor Miłogost Reczek in Cyberpunk 2077 following his passing in 2021.
As reported by Bloomberg, it's been revealed that CD Projekt used AI to replicate the voice of the late Miłogost Reczek, who voiced Night City's most reliable ripper doc, Viktor Vektor, in the base game's Polish localisation back in 2020.
CD Projekt Red might have stumbled a bit when they got Cyberpunk 2077 out the door and into the hands of the public. It was filled with bugs and poor optimization, which even prompted Sony to remove the game from their digital storefront for a period. However, the studio continued to work through the issues and delivered players with a series of patches to bring the game up to their standards. Now, the latest big update and expansion added a new area and content to take in. With that said, there was one obstacle developers had to figure out, and it was based on a deceased voice actor.
CD Projekt turned to AI technology to replicate a Cyberpunk 2077 Polish voice actor who passed away in 2021.
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty includes the voice of a deceased actor from the base game, replicated using an AI algorithm by developer CD Projekt Red for the DLC campaign. The technology was used to recreate the sound of the late Miłogost Reczek, who voices delightfully named ripperdoc Viktor Vektor in the base game, with the permission from his family.
Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red used AI to recreate the voice of a deceased Polish actor for the Phantom Libery expansion, a new report revealed.
Cyberpunk 2077 publisher and developer CD Projekt used AI to recreate the voice of a deceased actor.
Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt used AI to replace a deceased voice actor after gaining permission from the family.