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Wayfinder's JB Blanc discusses voice acting, AI, and more

Blanc discusses his storied career while also addressing a few misconceptions about the art of voice acting.

Ozzie Mejia

September 27, 2023 3:00 PM

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Developer Airship Syndicate has had a lot to celebrate recently. Alongside publisher Digital Extremes, the team brought its action MMORPG Wayfinder into early access. The journey is just beginning in many ways, including for the game's voice cast. We recently had a chance to catch up with renowned voice actor JB Blanc to learn more about his time with Wayfinder, as well as about the art of voice acting in general.

"The misconception [about voice acting] is that you're doing a voice," Blanc told Shacknews. "And, you're not. You're playing a character. The voice comes secondary."

On top of discussing his time with Wayfinder, Blanc shares some stories about some of his past work. He also discusses the growth of video games as a whole and how the art of voice acting has evolved over time. He also talks about SAG-AFTRA's labor battle, which earlier this week has expanded into the world of video games, and what negotiations regarding AI means to all people.

Wayfinder is currently on Steam Early Access, as well as on PlayStation. For more interviews like this, be sure to follow Shacknews and Shacknews Interviews on YouTube.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?