Arc Raiders AI Voice Backlash Prompts Nexon Warning: Expect Every Game Studio To Use AI
A rare admission cracks the narrative: a key figure now concedes the central claim is likely true, setting off a scramble to contain the fallout.
Everyone keeps asking which studios are using AI. Short answer: pretty much all of them, and Embark is one of the few saying it out loud. Their new shooter Arc Raiders uses AI text-to-speech for some dialogue, and they aren’t shy about it.
What Embark is actually doing
Embark co-founder Stefan Strandberg told GamesRadar+ that using TTS in Arc Raiders isn’t a one-off hack; it’s a studio strategy. Same deal as their last free-to-play shooter, The Finals: they blend AI-generated lines with recordings from real voice actors. Strandberg’s take is pretty straightforward — real performers bring a spark and end up shaping the world-building, and the goal isn’t to swap them out. He flat-out says there’s no plan to replace actors.
Nexon’s stance: this is normal now
Embark’s parent company, Nexon, doesn’t seem bothered. In a Japanese interview with Game*Spark, translated by Automaton, Nexon CEO Junghun Lee basically said the quiet part out loud.
"It’s important to assume that every game company is now using AI."
Lee’s argument is that if everyone has access to the same tech, the edge comes from how you use it, not whether you use it. His pick for that edge is human creativity — because tools don’t make the game, people do.
Speed vs. soul
Strandberg is walking the same line. He says games can’t be built by an AI — and hopes they never can — but he absolutely wants the studio making content way faster. If AI can handle the boring parts and help them ship iterations a hundred times quicker, great. The artistry still has to come from humans.
Players are split, the numbers aren’t
Fans of The Finals and Arc Raiders don’t agree on whether this mix of AI and human voices is fine or a problem. Regardless, the debate hasn’t slowed Embark down. Arc Raiders has apparently already hit a peak of around 700,000 concurrent players across all platforms.
The bottom line
This is one of those shop-floor production choices that gets louder because it involves actors and AI. Embark’s approach — use TTS where it makes sense, bring in actors for the stuff that matters, don’t try to replace anyone — is pragmatic. And if Nexon’s CEO is right, it’s also where most of the industry already is, whether they say it publicly or not.