Wild that Steam put in a whole "you must disclose on the store page if you are using AI in your game" and a game I was looking forward to openly admitted to using AI voice acting but never put it on their page, instead going into the forums with "Oh sorry, we're two poor people. We couldn't afford it so we had to use AI. You wouldn't want the game to be delayed/never come out, right?"
Actually, yes. I would prefer that.
EDIT: The game was "The Brew Barons." I forgot that part.
was very disappointed to learn this. on top of this, the game released with a number of bugs, some of which are progress-stoppers. so honestly, having it be delayed might've been perfectly fine, if only to smooth those out a bit. I'm sure people who've waited for this game for ages wouldn't mind waiting for voice acting to be added.
also, as it turns out: you can just not have voice acting, or limit your voice acting to your budget. you can have little recorded barks that you use repeatedly, or just make a noise over and over like Undertale did, inspired by uncounted games before it.
Disco Elysium didn't have much voice acting, on release; the fully voice acted version with almost every line covered came much later, when they could afford to do it. we live in a time when updating a game after the fact is normal, and that can be a good thing if done right!
on this subject: i'm still mad about Firmament
a 30-year history of games full of human-made art, writing, and voicework, and they piss it all away because apparently the people in charge think "AI is the future" or some bullshit
there was a Kickstarter campaign, for fuck's sake! nowhere in the Kickstarter did it say they were going to use AI-generated crap everywhere
it makes me really concerned for the "Starry Expanse" project, which has been taken under Cyan's wing as an official Riven remake; i can only hope the backlash against Firmament was strong enough to make them think twice about a repeat performance