Troy Baker is one of the leading voice actors in the video game industry, lending his voice to iconic characters from franchises such asBioShock,Far Cry,Uncharted, andBatman: The Telltale Seriesto name a few. However, Baker’s prolific career has been overshadowed as of late, due to the increasing backlash after his announcement many weeks agoregarding his partnership with Voiceverse NFT.On January 14,Baker announced via Twitterthat he was partnering with Voiceverse NFT to promote new NFTs (Non-Fungable Tokens) that run on the Ethereum blockchain, which allows owners of the IP address access to an AI-genreated voice program that can duplicate any specific person’s voice. This announcement was met with stark backlash from fans and the gaming community at large for its morally and legally dubious ideas of replacing voice actors, as well for Baker’s seemingly antagonistic attitude toward people who may be against it.RELATED:Troy Baker Voices Support for Pedro Pascal as Joel in The Last of Us HBO SeriesIn a tweet earlier today, Baker announced that after careful consideration, he would be ending his partnership with Voiceverse based on the feedback he has received online. In his statement, the voice actor behind Joel fromThe Last of Usapologizes for his initially hostile statement of “you can hate or create,” despite his good intentions.
Earlier in the month, on thePlay, Watch, Listenpodcast,Baker elaborated on why he partnered with Voiceversein the first place, claiming it interested him due to the new tools it could allow to new voice actors looking to break into the industry, but admits that he wasn’t entirely aware of the dangers regarding the NFT component. Initially, he didn’t believe such a move would hurt the voice acting industry, but upon further reflection, seems to understand the danger a partnership like this would provide.
Withhow controversial the NFT market has provensince its rise to prominence in late 2021, it should not be surprising that Baker’s initial partnership would draw controversy. However, based on the reactions to his withdrawal from the project, many of his fans seem pleased that he was able to educate himself on the topic and take accountability for his statements.
While it seems as though many other voice actors, and evenother companies such as Square Enix, seem to be eager to hop onto the trend in spite of the controversy surrounding it, many appear thankful that Baker has reassessed his ideas regarding the trend, and what it may mean for other voice actors interested going forward.
