Naruto X Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections has been a hotbed of controversy, with many accusing Bandai Namco of using AI for some of the voice acting. After some silence, the company released a statement regarding the matter, claiming that they didn’t use AI, blaming the bad voices on editing and mastering.
Bandai Namco released a statement through IGN, claiming that the lines questioned by players were not AI-generated. The company claims that shoddy editing and mastering are the reasons why some of these voices sound robotic, with a patch coming soon to fix it.
"Regarding the reports about several voice-over lines in Naruto X Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, Bandai Namco Entertainment can confirm that the lines in question were not AI-generated, but the result of inconsistencies during the editing and mastering process," Bandai Namco said. "We regret that this raised a concern with Naruto fans and the voice-acting community. We are currently working to fix the voice lines in question, which will be patched in the near future."
Concerns of AI-generated voices come from the History Mode of Naruto X Boruto. Since these are just repeated battles from the previous games, new recordings were made to make them sound a bit different. However, some of these recordings sounded suspiciously mechanical, to the point that some of the actors complained, including Naruto VA Maile Flanagan.
To play devil’s advocate for a bit, while the History Mode is filled with weird-sounding voices, Special Story sounds pretty normal. For those unaware, this is a brand-new story where Boruto and his friends get into a mysterious game while a new threat rises from the shadows. Based on our experience, the voices in this mode were good, though History Mode definitely had us suspicious.
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Naruto X Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Check out this review from our sister website Gfinity.