Football Commentator Guy Mowbray Opens Up About Using an AI Voice Clone for EA Sports FC
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Match of the Day commentator Guy Mowbray has revealed he gave EA permission to use an AI voice clone to help record thousands of player names for EA Sports FC, sparking new discussions about consent and automation in gaming audio.
Sports broadcasting and modern game development just intersected in a fascinating way. According to a recent BBC report covered by Eurogamer, Match of the Day commentator Guy Mowbray gave EA full permission to create an AI voice double of himself to help tackle the massive task of recording player names for EA Sports FC. Mowbray explained that recording commentary is now a nearly year round commitment, running from November through July, simply because the sheer volume of scenarios required to make a modern sports title feel authentic is staggering.
A primary driver behind using the voice clone is the sheer scale of the roster. EA Sports FC features more than 20,000 real male and female footballers, and every single player name needs to be recorded multiple times across various intonations so it blends seamlessly into match commentary. EA told the BBC that the technology serves as a collaboration tool rather than a replacement, functioning alongside existing development pipelines in animation and gameplay systems to build more responsive experiences.
While this particular partnership was done with consent and compensation, generative AI remains a deeply sensitive subject across the industry. Voice actors and performance unions like SAG-AFTRA have spent years pushing back against unvetted digital replication, resulting in hard fought safety guardrails and fair compensation requirements for digital doubles. As studios increasingly turn to automation to handle repetitive workloads, Mowbray's arrangement highlights a rare instance where talent and publisher navigated the technology collaboratively, though the broader debate around AI in performance fields is far from settled.
Tags: EA Sports FC, AI, Gaming News, Industry Trends, Audio Design
Original article: Eurogamer