The Witcher 3 Will Use AI for Geralt's Voice, But for a Good Reason

The world of the acclaimed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be enriched next year with Songs of the Past, a new expansion arriving over 10 years after the previous one, Blood & Wine. The protagonist Geralt of Rivia will return to the scene as we knew him, with the same voice acting from 2015; however, to make this happen even in the original Polish version of the game, developer CD Projekt Red was forced to resort to a controversial method.

Geralt and the AI-Corrected Voice

For Geralt's Polish voice actor, Jacek Rozenek, many things have changed since he recorded the Witcher's voice in 2014. As journalist Stephen Totilo recounts, in 2019 Rozenek suffered a stroke, which, in addition to his health, also affected his ability to act. Rozenek managed to resume work and in 2021 returned to portray Geralt, but with great difficulty. For Songs of the Past, the situation became even more complicated.

Health problems meant that Rozenek's voice became noticeably different from what it was in 2014, a difference that would be clearly perceptible if used in the expansion. CD Projekt therefore decided to turn to Respeecher, a company that develops AI-based voice synthesis software, to modify the voice so that it reflected the 2014 version.

We specify that Rozenek still recorded all the lines for Songs of the Past, a job for which he was duly compensated, and also that the modification process took place with his consent. We also specify that for CD Projekt Red this was a special case: the Polish company has no intention of replacing flesh-and-blood actors with AI.