CD Projekt Uses AI to Match Geralt Actor’s Original Witcher 3 Voice With His Consent

CD Projekt is using AI-assisted voice technology with actor Jacek Rozenek’s permission to make his newly recorded Geralt dialogue sound closer to his original performance in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

The arrangement, first reported by Game File with additional context from PC Gamer, is being used for the new The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past expansion. Rozenek is recording the Polish-language dialogue himself. Voice technology company Respeecher is then modifying that new performance to improve continuity with Geralt’s voice in the original game.

Jacek Rozenek is recording Geralt’s new dialogue

Rozenek has voiced Geralt in the Polish-language versions of previous Witcher games. In 2019, he suffered a stroke that temporarily left him unable to speak. He later underwent rehabilitation and returned to voice work.

By 2021, Rozenek was able to record some additional material connected to The Witcher 3, although the work was physically demanding. He continued training and eventually returned to professional performance.

CD Projekt wanted Rozenek to reprise Geralt for Songs of the Past. His natural voice has become noticeably deeper and rougher since the original game was recorded, however, and the expansion takes place within the existing Witcher 3 timeline. The studio therefore sought a way to preserve vocal continuity between the older dialogue and the new scenes.

With Rozenek’s approval, Respeecher is processing his fresh recordings so they sound closer to the Geralt performance he delivered roughly a decade ago. The goal is to match the actor’s earlier voice while retaining the performance he is giving now.

CD Projekt calls the project a special case

Synthetic speech artist Dmytro Vasylets said the process required extensive work, including training the model and correcting AI artifacts. Capturing a full emotional range was particularly difficult. Shouting, anger, fear, laughter, and quieter vocal tones each created different challenges.

Rozenek has publicly supported the approach and said he trusts the game’s creators. He explained that the intention is to make the final result sound as close as possible to his Geralt voice from around 12 years earlier.

CD Projekt described the arrangement as a special case tied to Rozenek’s health and the expansion’s specific continuity needs. The studio is not planning to apply the same treatment to Doug Cockle, Geralt’s English-language actor. CD Projekt has worked with Respeecher before, but here the technology is being used to support the returning actor’s own newly recorded performance.

How do you feel about using voice technology this way when the original actor records and approves the performance?