The development team behind EA Sports FC uses an AI recreation of at least one of its commentators to record some of the game’s lines, it’s been revealed.
Guy Mowbray has been one of the game’s commentators since EA Sports FC 24, and has explained the process in a new interview with the BBC.
Mowbray explained that the act of recording commentary for a large sports game with constantly updated players means it’s “part of my weekly routine, pretty much every week from November all the way through to the start of July”.
The article notes that the most repetitive task Mowbray has to perform is not only reading the names of each of the game’s 20,000+ players, but doing so in different intonations to mark different situations (receiving a pass, taking a shot, scoring a goal, and so on).
It then reveals that EA does some of the work for Mowbray here by using AI to replicate his voice, with his permission, to record some of the names for him.
“AI has long been part of our development pipeline – from animation to gameplay systems – and continues to support our teams in making better, more responsive football experiences,” an EA statement to the BBC said.
“But when it comes to commentary and content, it’s always a collaboration with our talent – not a replacement.”
This attitude is reinforced elsewhere in the article, where Mowbray explains that some of the game’s longer commentary lines can’t be created by anyone other than him, because they have to sound like something he’d naturally say.
“Say there is a scenario where a team is crossing the halfway line but we don’t know if it will develop into anything,” he said. “So, I might say ‘oh, a promising attack, what could they do from here’ as a line of commentary to explain that – but we need 10 different ways of doing that, so I will have to think of another nine ways of saying it.
“It can’t be scripted for me because it has got to be in my style and how I would say it in real life, so I have to think of those lines myself. It’s the same for Sue on co-comms – she will need 10 different ways of adding insight or colour too.”
Co-commentator Sue Smith also explains in the article that because the recording process takes place over a number of months, it’s sometimes difficult to ensure one recording session sounds like a previous one, something that is crucial to ensure the player thinks the commentary sounds natural, rather than different lines recorded months apart and stitched together.
“It’s great fun when you do them but the sessions can be quite intense, lasting over four or five hours, and our voices have to be perfect,” Smith said. “There have been times where we have come in and started recording but been told our voice isn’t quite right, and it doesn’t sound the same as it did last time.
“That makes sense, because it has got to sound exactly right within the game. If there is any sort of variation, it would probably sound quite odd, so I have never looked after my voice as much in my entire life.”
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