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The development team behind EA Sports FC is using AI technology to recreate the voice of at least one commentator in order to record some lines in the game.

Guy Mowbray has been one of the main commentators since EA Sports FC 24. In a new interview with the BBC, he explained how the recording process works and how AI is involved.

Mowbray said recording commentary for a large football game is a regular and long task. Because the game constantly updates players and teams, he records new lines almost every week. He said it is “part of my weekly routine, pretty much every week from November all the way through to the start of July”.

One of the most repetitive parts of his job is reading the names of more than 20,000 players in the game. He must say each name in different ways depending on the situation, such as when a player receives a pass, takes a shot, or scores a goal.

The report explains that EA uses AI to help with this process. With Mowbray’s permission, the company uses AI to replicate his voice and record some of the player names. This reduces the amount of repetitive recording he has to do.

In a statement to the BBC, EA said: “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.

“But when it comes to commentary and content, it’s always a collaboration with our talent – not a replacement.”

Mowbray also explained that AI cannot replace everything. Some longer or more emotional commentary lines must be recorded by him directly, because they need to match his natural speaking style.

He gave an example: “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.”

Sue Smith, the co-commentator, also spoke about the recording process. She said recording takes place over several months, and it can be difficult to keep the same voice tone between sessions. This is important because players should not notice differences between lines recorded months apart.

“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.”

Through this system, EA uses AI as a support tool, while still keeping human commentators at the center of the process.

Read more at: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ea-sports-fc-commentator-lets-ea-use-an-ai-version-of-his-voice-to-record-some-lines-its-revealed/