You might not know his title, however Richard Wells is likely one of the most-heard voices in video video games – and now he is blowing up on TikTok.
Wells’ TikTok account, which he created final Friday, now has over 17m views – totally on his first video, the place he reveals himself because the voice of video gaming’s PEGI logos.
Sure, Wells voiced the “PEGI 12” and “PEGI 18” logos that play earlier than online game trailers – and now, he is advised followers he was solely paid €200 (£170) years in the past to do it.
“Hello, I am Richard Wells, and I have been an expert voice actor for 40 years,” his first TikTok video begins. “I’ve made not less than 10,000 recordings and spoken hundreds of thousands of phrases – however mockingly I am finest recognized for simply two. You will not know my face, however hundreds of thousands of you avid gamers actually do know my voice – as a result of I am the man who says ‘PEGI 18’ on all of your video video games.”
Wells concluded by asking viewers to work together with the video in the event that they recognised his voice – prompting greater than 2.8m Likes (and counting).
“I am completely overwhelmed by the response to that video,” Wells mentioned in a follow-up publish, thanking viewers for his or her response. “I am completely gobsmacked.”
Wells has since replied with additional movies answering frequent viewer questions – comparable to how a lot he was paid, and his ideas on using AI.
“A number of folks have mentioned ‘do I receives a commission each time I say it?'” Wells mentioned of his PEGI logos. “Properly, I want,” he laughed. “I really received paid €200 again in September 2009, and that is all the cash I’ve ever made [from it].”
In one other video, Wells even dug out his authentic voice recordings from that day, with the entire PEGI logos included:
“For the second AI is fairly nice, however fairly scary additionally,” Wells continued. “It is okay for hack jobs, however for something that wants intent, emotion, emphasis… fairly often you hear stuff they usually put the emphasis on the mistaken phrase. I’ve no intention of promoting my voice to an AI bundle as a result of if you would like me, you may get me.”
The problem of AI getting used for voice over work in video video games and in different mediums has hit the headlines repeatedly over the previous 12 months. Many voice over actors that Eurogamer spoke to final 12 months had been firmly towards its use. Final month, actors raised concern at a “groundbreaking” SAG-AFTRA union settlement that allowed artists to “safely discover” alternatives for AI to make use of replicas of their voice.
For now, Wells appears to simply be proud of the response he is been given. “Thanks once more for all of your messages, for all 2m Likes for this previous geezer,” he concluded.
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