A performer from Baldur's Gate 3 has expressed the view that developers do not place as high a value on voice actors as the game's audience does

Samantha Béart, who portrays Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3, has expressed dissatisfaction regarding the gap in how developers and players regard voice actors.

During an interview with GamesRadar at the Golden Joystick Awards, Béart mentioned that game developers often do not consider voice actors integral to their teams.

"There's a strange division regarding developers' views on where we belong in the industry—they don't see us as team members, whereas players position us quite prominently," she explained.

Béart emphasized that voice actors need to actively market themselves since studios usually do not take this initiative. "We leverage social media and its algorithms for this purpose," she added.

Initially released in Early Access in 2020, Baldur's Gate 3 officially launched in 2023, achieving over 2.5 million sales before its full release and eventually surpassing 15 million units sold. Upon launch, the game quickly reached 800,000 concurrent players on Steam.

Following its release, the game received various awards, including a Hugo Award. In June 2024, Larian Studios, the developer and publisher, released mod support, leading to over 100 million mod downloads since its introduction.

The role of voice actors in the gaming industry remains debated. In July 2024, SAG-AFTRA, the US performers union, initiated a strike due to concerns over AI usage, demanding assurances against their performances being utilized to develop AI models intended to replace them. The strike concluded in July of the subsequent year.

Recently, Swedish company Embark faced criticism for utilizing AI for voice generation in the popular game Arc Raiders. Similarly, developer Aspyr was scrutinized following allegations of using AI for voice replication in Tomb Raider remasters.