Paradox Interactive speeds up audio generation from weeks to hours with ElevenLabs

Paradox Interactive is the leading Swedish game developer and publisher behind some of the most iconic games in the market today; from Stellaris to Cities: Skylines to Crusader Kings III.

Game development for AAA studios is a complex process that involves hundreds of stakeholders and multi-year-long development cycles. There are usually multiple iterations of narratives and gameplay dynamics during pre-production that can be very costly and time-consuming. In a groundbreaking move, Paradox Interactive has partnered with ElevenLabs to integrate its cutting-edge voice technology into the development process to streamline voice generation.

Furthermore, Paradox Interactive aims to continue its tradition of allowing the community to create their own narrative and develop new content. One of the most exciting aspects of the partnership between Paradox Interactive and ElevenLabs is the potential for players to change and improve the game's content after its release.

Incorporating ElevenLabs’ generative AI technology offers several benefits:

• Efficient Iteration: During the pre-production phase, game developers often need to revise and iterate on dialogue and story elements. With text-to-speech technology, these revisions can be made quickly and easily. TTS no longer requires the Audio or Narrative teams to record the narrative themselves.
• Cost Savings: Large and complex AAA games have extensive dialogues and narratives that may change up to the moment of release. Using employees to record narratives or make last-minute changes can be time-consuming and expensive. By using text-to-speech technology, Paradox will be able to save costs and resources to make its development process more efficient.
• Flexible Localization: As a global publisher, Paradox Interactive releases games in multiple languages. ElevenLabs' voice technology supports a wide range of languages and accents, allowing Paradox to efficiently localize its games for different markets.
• Accessibility: A By using high-quality text-to-speech, Paradox can improve the accessibility of their games for players who are visually impaired or have difficulty reading on-screen text.
• New Narratives and Expansions: Games are constantly evolving; from expansions to new branching narratives or open-world experiences. TTS technology will allow Paradox to explore a new set of creative experiences.

Ernesto Lopez, Audio Director for Stellaris and CK3, said this about the partnership:

“We’re incredibly pleased with the results from the ElevenLabs platform. We were looking for a solution that could enable us to prototype voiceover content for our games, and the samples created by their contextually aware engine have exceeded our expectations. We have also been inspired to push the limits of our projects. As each iteration proves more capable and the results reach higher quality, this system helps us imagine more intricate and richer VO design for our games. At Paradox, our players and the stories they create in our games matter to us greatly. The use of such an accomplished tool means we have the opportunity to push the player experience to a whole new level. We are very excited to embark on this adventure with ElevenLabs and looking forward to the path ahead.”