Voice acting is a funny business in gaming. It’s one of the core things which can make or break a game, poor or flat voice acting can leave players feeling disengaged or even turned away. Good voice acting, however, can turn a good game into something great, so it’s time we paid more attention to the craft. That’s something Ubisoft is trying to do, with a brand new dubbing competition for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
At least, that’s the framing for the contest anyway. The Assassin’s Creed Shadows dubbing challenge asks players to head to TikTok in order to take a stab at providing voices over a series of clips from the series. Fans of the action-adventure games will then be judged by Ubisoft and the winners will be included in the game, voicing secondary NPCs and being invited to learn more about voice acting at a special event.
As a contest you can see why it might be a success. It’ll let TikTokers run riot trying different voice lines and interpretations, hopefully having a lot of fun recording their versions of the scripts they’ll be given. On the other hand, this kind of competition has had a history of hitting problems. One example revolved around the reaction to Ubisoft’s prior contest in association with HitRECord to create music for perennially missing-in-action title Beyond Good and Evil 2.
Ubisoft is trying to make it clear that this contest is not aimed at taking work away from voice actors. “The voices of lead characters and NPCs in Assassin’s Creed Shadows have all been recorded by professionals,” the announcement post reads. “With the Dubbing Challenge, we aim to provide a fun activation that will allow winners to learn more about the captivating work of voice actors & actresses.”
It’s yet to be seen if this contest will land with a thud or to applause, but it’ll be one to keep an eye on over the coming weeks.
If you’re interested in taking part, the Assassin’s Creed Shadows dubbing challenge runs from Tuesday June 18 to Tuesday July 2. You can learn more over on the official site, along with full details of how to enter.
You can also keep up to date with the Assassin’s Creed Shadows release date in our guide and take a look at our recommendations for the best stealth games you can play in 2024.
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