Sadly, even in today’s day and age, where video games are seen as a “big industry” and are worthy of numerous things, there are still stigmas against both the games, the developers, the players, and even the ones who lend their voices to the characters that enrich the gaming experience. In an interview with Collider, Aliona Baranova, who was both in and the performance director for Baldur’s Gate 3, stated that Hollywood is doing a disservice to video game voice actors by not casting them in more roles. Many Hollywood execs apparently think they’re “just voice actors” and can’t do grander things, even though that’s a lie.
“We are also theatre-trained. A lot of us are formally trained in the UK… and I think that’s something that maybe execs are a bit short-sighted about. They think, ‘They just know how to do a video game.’” Studios are neglecting the video game audience who are so willing to support and so dedicated and passionate about… their favorite video game actors. And I think it’s a shame that that’s being overlooked. It’s being slept on.”
There’s plenty of irony in her words, and we’ll start with Baldur’s Gate 3 to prove our point. That game had a menagerie of voice actors who brought such depth and vocal emotion to their characters that the title not only won “Game of the Year,” but pretty much every character became iconic and fan favorites to everyone who played it, or even just got glimpses of them on screen. Yet, as many of the cast have noted in past interviews, it hasn’t led to a surge in new roles despite their newfound popularity.
Another level of this irony is that Hollywood is so driven to be “fueled by A-List stars” that they often hire whatever “big-name actor they can get” for certain video game adaptation roles instead of those who have proven to be able to play them in the past. We’re not only talking about live-action, either, as the animated Mario movie that came out in 2023 was voiced by Chris Pratt, and the backlash to it was massive, especially when we heard how he would sound in the film. That whole movie, with only one or two exceptions, was comprised of A-list actors who had no true voiceover experience.
Will voice actors ever get the respect they deserve? It’s hard to say, but as fans, we should support our favorite voice actors so that they can get all the opportunities they can in games and beyond.
