Fortnite now lets you chat with Darth Vader, who wields the fully operational AI-generated power of the late James Earl Jones.
This isn’t the first time Fortnite has featured the digital recreation of a now-deceased individual. Last year, it held a pop concert fronted by Juice Wrld, the young rapper and Fortnite fan who sadly died of an overdose in 2019.
But this is the first time Fortnite has let you voice chat with a character – any character, living or dead – and have them respond to you via generative AI. Here’s a look at how it works:
This frankly bizarre addition comes amidst Fortnite’s ongoing Star Wars season, and after seminal Darth Vader voice actor James Earl Jones signed over the rights of his voice to Disney to enable the iconic villain’s voice to continue.
In the world of TV, this has already been used to generate Vader’s voice for the Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now, Fortnite has partnered with Google’s Gemini AI bot and ElevenLabs’ Flash audio model to provide the late actor’s vocals for players in real-time.
“James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it,” reads a statement issued today from the family of James Earl Jones. “We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.”
Players aged under 13 will receive a prompt asking for parental permission to chat with Darth Vader, an Epic Games FAQ page states. You can also report Darth Vader, if he says something you don’t like.
“When you talk with Darth Vader, we securely send voice audio to Gemini to generate Darth Vader’s response,” Epic Games wrote. “Your voice audio and transcriptions of it are not stored. If you report something Darth Vader says, we will only receive Darth Vader’s responses.”
For now, Darth Vader only understands and responds in English, the FAQ continues. *insert Wookie noise here*
The development comes after significant pushback by established (human, living) voice actors over the encroachment of AI in video games. Earlier this year, Eurogamer chatted with Commander Shepard voice actor Jennifer Hale to find out the latest developments in the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, with AI a key issue.
Earlier today, Epic Games announced that Fortnite would be going offline on iPhone for the forseeable future after Apple had “blocked” its return via the App Store in the US.
