Image via Serene Gameworks/Wandering Wizard.
Castle of Secrets developer Serene Questworks has been accused of hiring human voice actors, only to fire them and replace them with performances made with generative AI. Voice actor Mika Nerida claimed the studio "decided they wanted to use AI-trained voices" for its debut game, and "canned every voice actor they had, refusing other talent onboard."
A picture in the post from fellow voice actor Ian Mitchell shows he was also banned from Castle's Steam hub by a Serene Questworks developer for "personal hostility and imposing their position." The now-deleted post on the game's forums claimed the studio "used AI to make voice actors sound like multiple different people, instead of having the actors act out as the characters. Make it less authentic, as a computer's doing the voices."
Nerida told Game Developer she was initially cast under the belief she was meant to replace the game's initial AI placeholder voices. She later alleged Serene "doubled back" and implied AI would be used in some capacity. Both she and Mitchell refused this, after which they and the game's other human actors were "kicked off" the project.
Per Mitchell, the actors were fired before voice recording was set to begin. He said the generated voices are more than a simple "voice filter," and they "make you sound like a different person completely. This was to save on costs of different voice actors, even though the voice actors who auditioned could do a MASSIVE range of voices for them."
"We asked to just let us voice act, instead of letting the computer do it for us," he continued. He also revealed one member of the Serene team had agreed to the actors' proposed terms, but was removed hours later while working on the document. Mitchell then said the cast was subsequently let go, and Serene told the actors it was "switching back to AI voice changers, and resorting to cheap Fiver VAs to replace us."
Castle of Secrets' AI generated content disclosure on Steam acknowledges the game has "sometimes generated voice acting." According to Nerida, that acknowledgement was on the page prior to actors being booked.
In a followup post, Nerida said Serene Questworks "doesn't have any content of mine that would allow them to steal, take, or sample me." She also made her feelings on the technology clear: "Fuck AI. Shit's stupid. Create authentically."
Game Developer has also reached out to Serene Gameworks and publisher Wandering Wizard for comment, and will update when a response is given.
Update: This story has been changed to clarify that Mitchell was another voice actor for Castle of Secrets, not its voice director, and that it was a member of Serene Questworks who'd agreed to the actors' terms.
