Update 27/11/2023: Bandai Namco has denied it used AI voice overs in Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections but has promised to address some dialogue after both players and voice actors complained.
In a statement to IGN, a Bandai Namco spokesperson said the company regrets the voice over performances featured in the latest Naruto fighting game and is now working on a fix that will arrive “in the near future”.
“Regarding the reports about several voice over lines in Naruto X Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, Bandai Namco Entertainment can confirm that the lines in question were not AI generated, but the result of inconsistencies during the editing and mastering process,” the spokesperson said.
“We regret that this raised a concern with Naruto fans and the voice acting community. We are currently working to fix the voice lines in question, which will be patched in the near future.”
Original Story 24/11/2023: Bandai Namco is under fire for the voice acting in Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, which is causing a stir among players and even its voice actors.
Action brawler Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections launched November 17 and the more Naruto fans play the game the more they’re questioning if something odd is going on with its voice acting. In fact, even the actors themselves are unsure what’s going on.
Responding to one odd clip, in which Naruto’s voice completely changes mid-sentence when saying “wake you up”, voice actress Maile Flanagan claimed she didn’t say the line like that in the recording booth, and said neither she or any voice director would find it acceptable.
Did that…..WAKE YOU UP 🤣
Bro this Dub is horrible why did they redo the voice lines????? pic.twitter.com/9LpIxb1pzq
— ShonenGames (@ShonenGameZ) November 15, 2023
“I can guarantee I did not say that line that way,” she said on X/Twitter. “What’s that from? And I guarantee no voice director of Naruto or the games would have me do that in that way.”
Flanagan wasn’t the only voice actor to raise the alarm either. Michael Schwalbe, who played Kawaki in Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, replied to a similar comment that criticised the voiceover of one of his lines, saying it sounds like the actors had no context for what they were saying.
“You’ve got good ears, we weren’t,” Schwalbe said on X/Twitter. “They give you a list of lines and we go down the page and do two takes each, and it might say ‘final attack’, ‘small pain’, ‘attacking’. But I swear to god I do not remember this being the line for that attack because there’s ain’t no way I’d do myself like that.”
Kawaki’s Eng Dub VA after getting his bag and seeing this absolutely atrocious take that CC2 picked: pic.twitter.com/9yc8UV7T8v
— Moeru (@MoeruStorm) November 22, 2023
He also commented on a post from X/Twitter user Storm Master, who put another clip side by side with previous fighting game Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4. The attacks shown are identical except for an odd shift in the voiceover in Connections, where the character pronounces “god” more as “ghad”.
“Okay, this needs an explanation as soon as possible,” Schwalbe said in another post. “I sent a couple of these clips to a friend. He ran the audio through an AI detection programme and look at the results. First is “wake you up”, then “power of ghad”. This is a union game. Generative AI use is supposed to be forbidden.”
AI detection programmes aren’t known to be particularly reliable, however, so this in no way confirms Bandai Namco used AI in the creation of the voice overs for Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections. That being said, one of its voice actors suggesting it did use AI is a serious accusation, and IGN has reached out to Bandai Namco for comment.
its time to unleash the power of ghaaad 😂🤣
Connections🤢🤮
Storm 4 😍🥰 pic.twitter.com/kYp7XqahmH— STORM MASTER (@STORM__MASTER) November 22, 2023
The use of AI in video games and beyond has been a hotly debated and controversial topic as of late, even coming at the centre of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike.
The guild also voted in September 2023 to authorise a strike as a part of the resumption of bargaining over its Interactive Media Agreement, which governs voice, motion capture, and other actors working in video games. While this doesn’t mean a strike is currently happening, it does mean that SAG-AFTRA has the power to call one if negotiations continue to stagnate.
Video game voice actors previously called out AI-generated explicit Skyrim mods, and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate voice actress Victoria Atkin called AI-generated mods the “invisible enemy we’re fighting right now” after discovering her voice was used by cloning software. Paul Eiding, the voice actor behind Colonel Campbell in the Metal Gear Solid series, also condemned its use. Embark Studios was also slammed by actors and developers for using AI in its hit shooter The Finals.
In our 5/10 review of Naruto’s latest, IGN said: “Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections may have the flashiest graphics in the series, but there’s almost nothing else here to make me seek it out over past entries with basically the same fighting system and better single-player stories.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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