Electronic Arts utilizes generative AI systems in its suite of development tools, and now another example has come to light. John Buccigross, the ESPN personality who joined the in-game broadcast booth for NHL 27 this year, has revealed that EA Sports used generative AI to simulate his voice in some scenarios. The developers seemingly did not disclose this prior to launch.
He said on the Chirping Zebras podcast (via 23sabres) that the developers played some AI-produced lines back for him, and he said they were “pretty good.”
However, he also recalled times when the AI tools didn’t get things completely right, so a human had to make corrections. He said in one scenario, the AI voice said, “And the crowd gets out of the chairs.” In ice hockey, though, a commentator in reality would not say “chairs” but instead “seats.”
At the end of the day, Buccigross sounded pretty enthusiastic about the AI features in NHL 27. “If it means less work and the same check, I’ll take it,” he said.
EA Sports previously used generative AI to help with its popular College Football series. The developers said the game would not have been as good without it.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson is a big believer in utilizing AI to help make games faster and more efficiently, even if it means job losses and displacement in the short term. Wilson said EA conducted a study across all of its development processes and found that 60% of development processes have a “high feasibility” of being positively impacted by generative AI. As an example, Wilson said in the past it took six months to develop a stadium for one of its sports games, and now it takes six weeks. In the future, it could take six days, he said.
EA’s ambition, Wilson said, is to use generative AI to make its development processes 30% more efficient. Wilson said EA’s development teams are driven by the desire to “get to the fun faster” and release games faster. The aim is to “get to greatness much more quickly,” he said.
EA was recently sold to an investor consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). The deal came with billions in debt for EA, so many are expecting the company to enact mass layoffs, game cancellations, studio closures, and other cost-cutting efforts, though no specific restructuring plan has been confirmed at this stage.