AI has become increasingly common in this day and age, especially in game development. Even the most successful titles, including Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders, use AI for some voice acting, and it’s not something that can just be outright ignored, according to notable industry figures like Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke. So whenever a massive game comes along and reaffirms the use of human voice acting, it’s a nice reassurance.
Speaking on the Dropped Frames podcast, Will Powers, marketing and strategic planning expert at Pearl Abyss America, confirmed this was the case for Crimson Desert. “I’ll not talk s*** about other games,” he said after a thoughtful pause. “All of our voice acting is by humans. I’m pulling back from saying that 100% of all the NPCs are 100 percent voice-acted and everything. I’m categorically making the decision to not say 100% on anything too…if one NPC isn’t voice-acted, then I’m not a liar on the internet. But yes, voice acting for all mainline NPC – like sideline or side quest NPCs.”
That effort isn’t just apparent in the English voice acting but also in the localization. “Like, there is voice acting in the game across multiple languages. Korean, English, Chinese, I think right now…but 13 different text localization…I think more than that. Look at our Steam page. We’re available across a ton of different languages with full localization as well as text localization,” says Powers. Considering how massive the experience can be, with a world map larger than Red Dead Redemption 2 and a campaign that’s only a “small percentage” of the overall experience, it understandably takes a lot of time.
“It is a massive undertaking to localize a project like this just because of the sheer breadth of it. Communities that aren’t listed that are asking for localization, I’m not ignoring you. It’s just not my decision. It’s a huge undertaking that takes a long time, and we’d rather release the game than delay it.”
Crimson Desert launches on March 19th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. And yes, even with all the work that’s gone into the game, players won’t have to worry about a cash shop for cosmetics and other microtransactions. On the downside, don’t expect a free demo ahead of launch since it wouldn’t properly represent the experience as a whole. Head here for even more details on the weather and how it’s fully dynamic, even in cutscenes and boss battles.
