Pixel Power: Leveling Up Protections for Voice Artists

One feature of Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) that made the game so outstanding is the fact that it used motion capture for all 248 of the human (not AI) voice artists who performed in the game. From companion characters to NPCs (non-playable characters), every voice artist who performed even a single line within the game wore a mocap suit. Even the most subtle aspects of the physical performance delivered by the actors became distinguishing features of the highly realistic in-game characters’ facial expressions, gestures, and movements. Thanks to his role in the game, Neil Newbon has enjoyed viral resurgence of something an AI derivative voice will never enjoy–both name and face recognition both within the industry and with consumers.

With more than fourteen years doing voice work in over 100 game properties, Newbon voices the iconic vampire rogue Astarion, a playable companion character whose backstory features heavily in the BG3 storyline. Thanks to the memorable voice work of Newbon and the cheeky character development brought to life through Newbon’s mocap acting, Astarion has become one of the most beloved and recognizable character sensations of the game. Astarion fan fiction has popped up on sites from Wattpad to Reddit, with tens of thousands of fan art posts on social media. Even TikTok is taken with Astarion, with #BookTokkers making reading recommendations for readers looking for books that satisfy a thirst—both literal and figurative—for the seductive vampire.

Highly engaged fans of video game characters have created stable and profitable careers for many voice actors. American actor Maggie Robertson, a graduate of London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LADMA) relied on her Shakespearian training to voice the character Lady Dimitrescu, a vampire in the 2021 release Resident Evil Village. Robertson, who also voices Orin, one of the primary antagonists in BG3, credits her work in video gaming for changing her career, a reality for many actors which now is being threatened by the push from many game developers to use AI to generative derivative work from an actor's performance—often without the protections of bargaining and contracts.

While his role as Astarion may have brought him a new wave of global attention, Neil Newbon is not new to entertainment. Formally trained at the National Youth Theatre in London, Newbon is a skilled martial artist and professional combat/stunt performer and founder of Performance Captured Academy, which  trains and mentors fellow voice artists on motion capture performance techniques. Now Newbon is focusing the massive cultural attention BG3 brought to voice actors toward another passion: activism.

An industry once undervalued for its performance quality, gaming currently rivals all other forms of entertainment. While book sales and streaming numbers on all networks suffer from actors and writers union strikes and boycotts, gaming is not only a dominant source of consumer entertainment, but an incredibly stable source of work for voice talent.

Newbon’s latest venture, the Pixel Pack, aims to take the spotlight and do what voice actors do best: speak truth in an industry that has long been dominated by inaccurate information and a lack of equitable respect.

In an interview with EW, Matthew Mercer, Chief Creative Officer for Critical Role, a multi-platform entertainment company that started as a handful of friends, all veteran American voice actors, live-streaming their weekly Dungeons & Dragons game, shared,

“I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met through the years that, when they hear what I do, they’re like, ‘I’ve always wanted to get into voiceover.’… And you’re like, that’s cool, but have you ever trained or do you just do silly voices on your time off?”

In addition to Newbon, the Pixel Pack is a collective that includes numerous noteworthy British voice actors: Ben Starr, an award-winning voice actor and Bristol native who has worked on the Final Fantasy game franchise and Alix Wilton Regan of London whose gaming voice credits include blockbusters such as Dragon Age Inquisition, the Cyberpunk 2077, and Divinity Original Sin, to name just a few. Abubakar Salim, who voiced Bayek of Siwa, the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed Origins, is a Kenyan-British actor with an extensive catalogue of both on-screen roles, and Luisa Guerreiro, who studied at Royal Holloway, University of London & The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, are just a few of the talented artists contributing to the Pixel Pack mission.

Engaging in Digital Combat—Words not Swords

Stars like Newbon, Robertson, Starr, Mercer, Salim, and Wilton Regan have proven the contributions their talent make to the avid gaming community, elevating both the profile of games and expanding the reach of games to new/non gamers. Still, the industry faces unprecedented challenges. While the stars of the Pixel Pack are no strangers to combat thanks to their voice and performance capture, the fight ahead is not a digital one. Video game performers represented by SAG-AFTRA have been on a strike that prohibits work with US game companies since July 2024. The critical issue facing talent? The use of AI in game production and development.

In a time when voice and motion performance talent are enjoying viral multi-media exposure, the Pixel Pack swings a massive metaphorical sword. Historically, voice actors were discouraged, denied, or even prohibited from promoting projects they were involved in. With the emerging fandoms focused on not just on in-game characters but the talent behind the character, Newbon wants to bring a new level of respect to voice talent as well as unprecedented visibility to actors whose faces rarely become their trademark.

By taking positions on issues, speaking out at industry events, and helping to promote information and opportunities for emerging talent, Newbon and the Pixel Pack form a global collective that might accomplish more than any industry union on the issues that may matter most to voice and mocap performers.