EA Patents Method for Letting Players Voice In-Game Characters

Anyone that loves video games has played one with bad voice acting. While voice work in video games has drastically improved over the last two decades, there are still games that have cringe-worthy delivery. If a new patent is anything to go by, Electronic Arts is looking at a unique solution. As discovered by VeryAli Gaming, the patent is for a feature that would allow players to speak in a video game using their own voice. The technology would use a voice converter that not only captures the words the player uses, but also things like the player's tone and inflections. 

Player Voiced Characters: Pros and Cons

While this would seem to be a really interesting concept, it's hard to say how well it would actually work in practice. The biggest hurdle for EA would be making sure that NPCs react in a way that feels logical; even if the technology worked flawlessly, if the responses from in-game characters don't match up well, it will seem a lot sillier than a bad line reading. The patent also notes that players would have an option to type in dialogue for their character to say. It's very easy to see some of the potential problems that could cause, as some players would doubtless choose to input things like vulgarity. 

As VeryAli Gaming notes, these options could work particularly well for games that have customizable characters. The idea being that if a player has come up with a specific vision for their character, that might extend to the voice, as well. It's hard to say whether players would really get into this concept, or if they would prefer to see traditional voice actors continue voicing main characters. Of course, we don't even know how long it might take for EA to start implementing this in games; this patent was filed in October 2020 before being made public earlier in November. 

Video Game Patents

It should be noted that, just because a company patents an idea like this, it doesn't necessarily mean we'll see it happen. Over the years, countless unique patents have been filed by companies like EA, Nintendo, and PlayStation, and those ideas can take years to come to fruition, or they can end up scrapped entirely. Back in 2021, Sony patented technology that would have allowed gamers to use everyday household objects as PlayStation controllers. The patent specifically cited bananas as one possibility, making it easier for a household of players to enjoy a party game together without needing a large number of expensive controllers. More than two years later, that idea still hasn't come to pass, and it shows that gamers should look at these patents as possibilities, rather than something that will definitely happen. 

Would you like to see this kind of feature implemented in video games? Would you want to voice an in-game character? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!