EA Patents To Let Players Voice Characters In Video Games

It is already possible but quite limited and rarely implemented.

Story Highlights

  • EA has published a new patent that wants to use the voice of a player to do voice acting for game characters. This has been done before but in quite a limited way with many caveats.
  • A small amount of audio would be recorded from a player. Then, the system would transform it into the voice of the game character.
  • The patent can solve the issue of in-game characters not having personalized voices of the players. And we may see more projects utilize the tech in the future.

Quite a few games have already tried to use the voice of players as an input, but it is rare and limited in practice. Regardless, EA seems to be exploring that feature for its future titles. A new patent published by the company wants players to become the voice of characters in games. The players’ voices would be used as input and processed into the voice of characters using AI. The system would only rely on minutes of recorded user data.

Systems and methods as described in this specification enable speech audio to be generated in the voice of a player of a video game, using speech audio provided by the player (e.g. a small amount of speech audio such as minutes of speech audio from the player), and a voice convertor.”

The image shows an example method for producing speech audio in a voice of a player using a voice convertor.
The image shows an example method for producing speech in the voice of a player using a voice convertor.

The patent dubbed “GENERATING SPEECH IN THE VOICE OF A PLAYER OF A VIDEO GAME,” argues that previous approaches to voice NPCs by using the audio recordings of users have been barred by the limits of technology, like requiring hours of speech samples. It is also worth noting that capturing all the emotions and depth of a player’s voice, even with hours of voice data, was impossible in the past decades.

In some video games, players may be able to configure their avatars to speak in different voices. However, previous approaches of generating speech audio in a particular voice typically require many speech samples (e.g. hours of speech samples) in order for the synthesizer to accurately capture the voice in the synthesized speech audio.”

The image shows a speech audio generator to create speech in a voice of a player.
The image shows a speech audio generator to create speech in the voice of a player.

EA may ask the players to repeat specific phrases in their voice before the playthrough to record the audio. The input voice of the player would then be converted into the speech of the game character, ensuring that speech prosody, such as intonation, stress, rhythm, and style of speech, still feels natural and detailed.


Related Content:


The patent solves the dilemma of not having a player’s personalized voice as speech for in-game characters. The newly proposed system could prove to be a popular feature if the emotions of a game character can be portrayed using the voice input of the players. 

The image shows an example method for training various parts of the system.
The image shows an example method for training various parts of the system.

Nevertheless, such a tech is a risky gamble for the gaming industry. The proposed system and its evolution can threaten the standard voice-acting roles if it starts to be used more commonly in games. 

Did you find this helpful? Leave feedback below.

Thanks! Do share your feedback with us. ⚡

How can we make this post better? Your help would be appreciated. ✍

Subscribe to our newsletter and get up-to-speed gaming updates delivered to your inbox.

We don’t spam! Read more in our privacy policy.

Source
Patentscope

Shameer Sarfaraz is a Senior News Writer on eXputer who loves to keep up with the gaming and entertainment industries devoutly. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and several years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.

Experience: 4+ Years || Education: Bachelor in Computer Science.

Related Articles

Join Our Community

Enjoyed this article? Discuss the latest gaming news, get expert help with guides and errors, and chat about all things gaming on eXputer Forums and Discord Server. Connect with fellow gamers who share your passion by becoming a part of eXputer's community.