The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past expansion will feature AI-generated Geralt voice acting — CD Projekt RED has an explanation

Currently, CD Projekt RED, together with Fool’s Theory studio, is developing the story expansion The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Songs of the Past (or “Ballad of the Past” in the Russian localization). Certain details are gradually being revealed: it turns out that artificial intelligence is being used in the creation of the voice acting.

Voice actor Jacek Rozenek, who voiced Geralt in the Polish localization, suffered a stroke in 2019. For several years he was unable to speak, but after treatment his speech began to gradually recover. He was even able to voice characters again, but his voice had changed (partly due to age), which became an issue when creating the Songs of the Past expansion.

During a conversation with journalist Stephen Totilo, localization producer Mikołaj Szwed shared that the expansion will feature new voice lines, including combat lines, which players will be able to hear not only in the DLC content, but also beyond it. For this reason, Geralt’s lines must match those previously featured in the game as closely as possible.

CD Projekt RED found a solution by turning to modern AI technologies. The company Respeecher helped the developers modify the actor’s voice so that Geralt would receive an authentic Polish voice performance. Jacek Rozenek himself agreed to this.

This is not the first collaboration between CDPR and Respeecher — the specialists helped voice Viktor Vektor in the Polish version of the Phantom Liberty DLC, as the original actor passed away in 2021.

You can add the expansion The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Songs of the Past to your Steam wishlist via the following link. It does not have a specific release date yet: it is planned for release in 2027.