CD Projekt Red Used AI to Polish Geralt's Voice in Next Witcher 3 Expansion

CD Projekt Red has confirmed that it used AI to assist with voice work for a new The Witcher 3 expansion titled 'Songs of the Past', set to launch next year. The company clarified that this is a special case.

According to a report by Game File reporter Stephen Totilo, CDPR worked with the AI company Respeecher to record and tweak the Polish voice of Geralt, performed by Jacek Rozenek. Rozenek suffered a stroke in 2019, and when work on the expansion began, the development team noticed his voice had become lower and gruffer. They feared the difference between old and new dialogue would be jarring for players.

With Rozenek's approval, CDPR used Respeecher, which had previously worked on Cyberpunk 2077 after a voice actor's passing, to make his performance sound more like it did before the stroke. CD Projekt Red's head of localization Mikołaj Szwed told Game File, "I do think this is one of those ways where you can use AI ethically, with consent and also do something good."

For the English version of the expansion, Doug Cockle will return as Geralt's voice actor. The expansion follows the release of The Witcher 3's remaster, which launched on Switch 2 and other platforms in September.