VOICEOVER POLICY

1. VO Strategy Overview

 

• No Full Dubbing in Multiple Languages:

  • Because of impracticality and complexities of multilingual dubbing, we will not fully dub all characters in multiple languages, and producing voiceovers in multiple languages is considered resource-intensive and potentially inconsistent. This priority avoids the requirement of making locally translated scripts and recording sessions, retains the original voices in many game projects, addresses the challenges of managing a vast and diverse cast of characters, and applies especially to games with large casts (e.g., Artistic Forces).

• Minimal Voiceovers:

  • Voiceovers will be limited to catchphrases, exertion sounds, and stylized vocal expressions (e.g., grunts, yells, spell words, cheers), similar to Brawl Stars.

• Cutscene Exceptions:

  • Selective games (e.g., Psoaic X Touhou) may feature full voiceovers in cinematic cutscenes, but only in a primary language (usually English).

• Text-First Localization:

  • Emphasis will be placed on full text, including subtitles and dialogues, and UI feedback localization across multiple languages, ensuring global accessibility without costly VO pipelines.

• Emphasis on expressive animations and audio cues:

  • Expressive animations and audio cues play a crucial role in enhancing user experience on digital platforms. These features will create a dynamic interaction that captures attention and makes navigation more engaging.​

• Fictional languages and stylized tones for immersion:

  • Fictional languages and stylized tones are powerful tools for creating immersive experiences in storytelling and digital content. They transport audiences to fantastical worlds, enriching narratives with unique cultural and depth. By employing these languages, creators can evoke emotions and foster a sense of belonging within their crafted universes. This attention to detail not only enhances engagement but also invites audiences to explore and connect with the story on a more profound level.

• Hybrid dub:

  • This applies to key characters, including some of them.​

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2. Rationale Benefits

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• Cost Efficiency:

  • Minimizes casting and studio costs.

  • Reduces QA complexity for multiple language dubs.

  • Avoids the high cost of multilingual dubbing and actor sessions.

• Storage Optimization:

  • Smaller audio footprint makes deployment faster, particularly for mobile and cross-platform releases.

• Creative Freedom:

  • Allows more flexibility in character development without being locked to voice actor schedules.

• Faster Updates:

  • Speeds up production and patch cycles with less dependency on VO sessions.

• Localization Simplicity:

  • Reduces the need for translated scripts and regional recording sessions.

• Scalability:

  • Simplifies adding new units, characters, factions, and so on.

• Artistic Consistency:

  • Maintains immersion via world-appropriate non-verbal audio.

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3. Applicability

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This policy applies primarily to:

• Large-scale or faction-heavy games.

• Cross-faction or crossover titles.

• Mobile and online-first games.

• Games with extensive roster complexity.

• Games with minimal or hybrid voiceovers.

• Niche and indie/hybrid-style titles.

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4. Implementation Guidelines

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• Replace VO with FX: Design unit responses using audio effects (metal clanks, energy surges, growls).

• Visual Feedback: Use animations and UI flashes to indicate player input or action.

• Script Condensation: Any needed lore exposition should appear in readable form or brief VO stingers.

• Optional Community Packs: Allow modders or fans to create VO mods if desired, without official production cost.

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5. Case Study Inspirations

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• Warcraft III (Classic):

  • Minimal iconic voiceover lines reused across factions.

• Supercell Titles (Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Brawl Stars etc.):

  • Minimal or no voiceover, global success.

• WayForward Titles (e.g. DuckTales: Remastered, Shantae, Mighty Switch Force, etc.):​

  • Use targeted full voiceover for major characters and narrative scenes/highlights, balancing indie-friendly budgets with professional quality.

  • Combines nostalgic/stylized audio presentation with minimalistic voiceover implementation.

• French-Bread Titles (e.g., the Melty Blood and Under Night In-Birth series):​

  • Most of these works exclusively have Japanese voiceovers only with emphasis on stylish delivery and minimalistic cutscene usage and without requiring English dubs in order to efficiently minimize voiceover costs while providing with full UI and text localization for Western audiences and maintaining a broader global accessibility.

• Hi-Rez Studios Titles (e.g., Smite, Paladins, etc.):​

  • Minimal and partial voiceover strategy (combat grunts, emotes, quips, and catchphrases/one-liners) optimized for battles and live service cadence.

  • Prioritize English voiceover in order to often skip full multilingual dubs strategically and efficiently.

• Type-Moon Titles (e.g., Tsukihime, Fate):

  • Selective use of flexible voiceover implementation strategy depending on product format or release type, which led to a strong focus on textual narrative.

    • Full Japanese-only voiceover, which is mostly used for key lines and cutscenes, in some works, while other forms of media are text-only.

  • Advantageous emphasis on narrative and text localization over impractical and exhaustive dubbing decisions.

• Team Ico Titles (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus):

  • Minimalistic or stylized voice design for emotional and narrative immersion.

  • Prioritize atmosphere and emotional impact over full voiceovers.

• Games by Arika (e.g., Fighting EX Layer) & Team Arcana/Examu (e.g., Arcana Heart):​

  • Stylized voiceovers, mostly in Japanese, centered on catchphrases and fight barks.​

  • Tend to exclusively use limited voiceover, focusing on exertion sounds, catchphrases, or Japanese-only audio.

• Mario Series (e.g., Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart):​

  • ​Famously limited to iconic catchphrases, cheers, grunts, and soundbites that enhance charm and global appeal, recognition, and success instead of full dialogue and lengthy conversations.

• Tekken Series:

  • Multilingual Dialogue Without Full Localization:

    • The Tekken series features multilingual characters from different nations who often speak in native languages (e.g., Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Italian, German, French) and there is no full dubbing across all of them, but with understandable subtitles instead.

  • Character Expression via Catchphrases and Sounds:​

    • Tekken heavily uses short catchphrases and expressive battle grunts to convey emotion and personality during combat, aligning with this minimal voiceover approach/philosophy in our game projects like Artistic Forces.

  • Storage and Cost Efficiency:

    • ​Like Tekken, which avoids fully voiced story modes for every character, with the exception of using major cutscenes, Psoaic optimizes for storage and cost by limiting full voiceovers to essential narrative or hero-focused titles like Psoaic X Touhou.

  • Hybrid Style in Cinematics:​

    • Speaking of relying on cutscenes, the Tekken series commonly employs selective full voiceover—just like Psoaic X Touhou, which reserves full voice acting for cutscenes with major characters.

  • With overall similarities to this fighting game series, we at Psoaic similarly emphasize text-first localization and rely on single-language or minimal voiceover to reduce overhead and maintain cultural flavor.

• Twisted Pixel Games (e.g., Ms. Splosion Man, Comic Jumper):​

  • Embrace stylized, high personality, quirky, exaggerated, selective voiceover that sparingly emphasizes and reinforces humor and character identity over full dialogue as their main focus, aligning with Psoaic’s minimal VO goals.

• Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (2010):​

  • Japanese-only voiceover, with the exception of Frank West from Dead Rising, who speaks English as he is canonically considered American, in all regions, strategically focusing on core audience and avoiding costly localization—mirrors Psoaic's selective language support.

• Dust: An Elysian Tail (2012):

  • Partial or selective English voiceover is efficiently implemented in story scenes and narrative context as its top priority, while the rest, including its gameplay, heavily relies and prioritizes more on visual storytelling via expressive animations, strong emotions, and core text-based dialogues, making it a story-rich indie-style game framework.

• Project X Zone 1 & 2 (2012 & 2015):

  • Japanese-Only Voiceover:

    • Both games have only Japanese voiceovers exclusively for crossover characters without the need for an English dub, even they are released to the Western markets.​

  • Combat-Only Voiceover:

    • The voiceover is used for combat only, especially during attacks, skills, and support calls. All story and dialogue sequences heavily focus on text localization and voice snippets.

  • Large Crossover Numbers:

    • Due to the sheer roster of characters from different franchises in both of these crossover games, full voiceover was avoided.

• Warframe (2013):

  • Primarily features full voiceover for key and major characters, main questlines, narrators, and lore elements only, while relying on text and minimal VO for general gameplay. English is the primary voiceover language, with full text localization for most others, but avoids full dubbing across all missions and factions. This supports agile live updates and massive content without ballooning production costs, similar to this policy.

• Killer Instinct (2013):

  • Selective Voiceover for Characters:

    • Each fighter in Killer Instinct has unique voice lines, taunts, and combat grunts, but not full dialogue trees or cinematic dubbing.

    • Voice lines are mostly combat-oriented—announcer calls, attack shouts, and iconic catchphrases.

  • English-Only Voiceover:

    • The game uses primarily English voiceovers without a Japanese dub, similar to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Cassette Beasts.

  • Cost Efficiency for Expanding Roster:

    • As Killer Instinct expanded over three seasons, the developers maintained voiceover consistency without overextending production by keeping things focused and streamlined.

  • Focused Use of Voiceover in Cutscenes:

    • Some story modes have light cutscene narration or character intros, but full cinematic voice acting is minimal.

• The Stanley Parable (2013):

  • Features narration-driven voiceover, with the narrator as the primary character of this game.

  • Minimal cast, but the voiceover of a narrator is central to the experience.

  • While not typical for Psoaic gameplay, similar methods could apply to future narrative titles.

• Strider (2014):

  • The only game in the Strider series that has fully and originally voiced in English only, which prioritizes combat fluidity and localization, even the Japanese version uses only localized texts instead of requiring a dub.

• Freedom Planet 1 & 2 (2014 & 2022):​

  • Full voiceover for small casts with toggleable options; comparable to Psoaic’s focused cast approach for select projects with manageable character-focused voiceover, such as Psoaic X Touhou.

• Octodad: Dadliest Catch (2014):

  • Selective voiceover is used for focusing on comedic and narrative moments only.

  • The main character of this game emphasizes expressive sounds instead of dialogue during gameplay, making it mirrorable and comparable to Psoaic's cinematic voiceover exceptions and stylized exertion/catchphrase approach.

• Sky Force Anniversary (2014) & Sky Force Reloaded (2016):​

  • Use the limited but effective and selective voiceovers sparingly for key announcements, mission start/end quotes, power-ups, mission flow, arcade experience, and occasional narrative lines, enhancing immersion while keeping storage low.

  • These titles serve gameplay function and atmosphere, much like how Brawl Stars and Strider (2014) inspire this policy.

  • Full multilingual dubbing is unnecessary and impractical due to arcade-style pacing and minimal dialogue.

• Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! & Soulstorm (2014 & 2021):​

  • Combines cinematic voiceover, grunts, and commands of many minor characters—very similar to real-time strategy-style units in RTS games like Artistic Forces via voiceover strategy.

  • Selective but expressive voiceover, especially for key cutscenes and commands.

  • ​Emphasis on tone, immersion, and atmosphere, all while being storage-conscious.

• J-Stars Victory VS (2014) & Jump Force (2019):​

  • Emphasis on minimalistic Japanese-only voiceover and cost-effective text localization for dozens of massive crossover casts from different Shueisha IPs strategically parallels Psoaic’s text-first, cost-efficient strategy for crossover games over full multilingual voiceover, even for international release.

  • Voice lines are limited to iconic catchphrases or attacks, which mirrors Psoaic’s strategy for minimal voiceover.

• The King of Fighters XIV (2016):​

  • Like most SNK games, this game consists of a large cast of 50 fighters, including 8 DLC additions, and prioritizes ​Japanese voiceover only, making a full multilingual dubbing impractical. But instead, it has text-based localization for other markets, including those in the Western world.

• A Hat in Time (2017):​

  • Partial/Selective Voiceover:

    • Characters have spoken lines in important scenes and interactions, but most dialogue is delivered via text.

  • English-Only VO:

    • No Japanese dub was produced, despite the Japanese release.

  • Expressive Minimalism:

    • Many lines are context-sensitive or comedic, not full cinematic VO.

• Warriors All-Stars (2017):​

  • A large crossover cast in this game with only Japanese voiceover without receiving an English dub, relying on text localization for global accessibility, aligns with selective VO approach.​

  • Features many characters from multiple Koei-Tecmo IPs, but avoids full multilingual dubbing due to scope and budget considerations.

• Marvel vs. Capcom Series:

  • Strategically omits Japanese voiceovers for Marvel characters due to licensing and prioritization of core markets, including Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and its updated title called Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

  • Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017) features English voiceovers for a large crossover cast, but limited to single-language VO for efficiency.

• Blade Strangers (2018):​

  • Even for the Western release, this game mostly prioritizes Japanese-only voiceover, leading itself to focus more on core gameplay appeal over full cinematic voice integration.

• Brawl Stars (2018):

  • Because of the storage constraints when it comes to certain updates, this game uses expressive, minimal voiceovers using only grunts and catchphrases/one-liners in multiple languages for a successful global impact with lower overhead.

• SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy (2018) & Samurai Shodown (2019):

  • Feature selective or partial Japanese-only voiceover with limited or no dubs in other languages and minimal VO in general gameplay.

• Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid (2019):​

  • ​Selective English voiceover, reused assets, and minimal dubbing despite licensed characters, often relying on catchphrases or focusing only on core cast.

• Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time (2020):​

  • Full voiceover with the original cast of the TV show and no multilingual dubbing, ideal for mainly focusing on narrative cohesion and character authenticity. This VO strategy keeps costs contained while still delivering a high-quality experience.​

• Bugsnax (2020):​

  • Implements stylized, expressive vocalizations, catchphrases, emotional tone, and minimal dialogue to build character-rich identity without requiring full cinematic voiceover coverage.

• Spectacular Sparky (2021):​

  • Lightly comedic, minimal, and stylized voiceover used selectively to enhance personality, charm, and humor without overwhelming production while minimizing overhead.​

• The King of Fighters XV (2022):

  • Dual-language voiceover, but most characters are fully voiced in Japanese, while the English voiceover is used for the announcer, who is voiced by Maxwell Powers.​

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (2022):​

  • Includes full English voiceover, but localized dubs are not universally applied.

• Starship Troopers: Terran Command (2022):​

  • Primarily utilizes voiceover strategy for focusing on mission briefings, selective narration, mission-critical dialogues, and unit responses; no full multilingual dubbing.

  • This title is designed for RTS-styled gameplay, which mirrors RTS genre needs for scalability.

  • This voiceover strategy is minimal, but functional for immersion.

• Protodroid DeLTA (2023):​

  • A budget-conscious indie game that mostly prioritizes strong visuals, gameplay, and text-based dialogue.

  • Minimal VO usage for emphasizing narrative story moments, making it an indie-friendly and budget-conscious production model.

• Cassette Beasts (2023):

  • Emphasizes selective voiceover to balance performance, cost, and narrative delivery.

• Idol Showdown (2023):​

  • A community-developed fighting game that only relies on selective voiceover using catchphrases, expressive reactions, and battle exclamations, aligning with budget-conscious and community-driven production similar to this approach.

  • It is designed with scalable production values in mind, opting for performance-friendly and cost-effective voiceover solutions.

  • Primarily uses a single-language voiceover and avoids fully dubbing into multiple languages.

• Contra: Operation Galuga (2024):​

  • Uses minimal VO, which reflects Psoaic’s strategy for games like Artistic Forces and Strider (2014), in order to support performance and heavy focus on both gameplay and atmosphere over cinematic storytelling. This strategy prioritizes cost-effective production, gameplay performance, and lean file size.

  • Just as this game emphasizes performance and leanness, this policy also limits voiceover to essentials (catchphrases, exertions, cutscenes) to efficiently optimize file size and budget.

  • Uses focused English voiceover for key narrative moments and keeps the rest of this game minimal as a simple priority.

• Tempest Rising (2025):

  • A real-time strategy game with heavy VO approach that increases scope/cost—used as a contrast model due to a large cast of units in three playable factions, emphasizing cost efficiency and storage reduction​.

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6. Future Partnerships & Collaboration

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• Virtual Studio Operations:

  • Psoaic Voice Production Studio may operate as a hybrid virtual studio, enabling collaboration with established VO partners like Sound Cadence Studios, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, and Studiopolis.

• In-House Character Control:

  • As all IP is Psoaic-owned, we are free to determine VO scope without external character restrictions.

• Collaboration Framework Example:

  • Example Studio Partners: Sound Cadence Studios, Studiopolis, Bang Zoom! Entertainment

  • Engagement Terms:

    • Remote collaboration via cloud-based asset transfer

    • Flexible scheduling for key character sessions

    • Optional shared talent pool agreements

  • Licensing: Psoaic retains all final VO rights and distribution control.

 

7. Union Compliance and Casting Options

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• Union Partnerships:

  • Psoaic Voice Production Studio will engage both SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and independent voice actor unions to access top-tier and professional VO talent with established performance standards and ensure industry-standard practices.

• Talent Flexibility:

  • Casting will be adapted per project with voice talent. Large or AAA-style games may prioritize union performers, while smaller, lower-budget, or indie-style projects may utilize experienced non-union indie voice actors.

• Quality and Credibility:

  • This approach enhances Psoaic's reputation for professionalism while maintaining flexibility across projects of varying scale.

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8. Policy Exceptions

 

• Narrative-driven titles or cinematic spinoffs (subject to review) may be considered for full dubbing depending on funding and audience demand.

• High-profile characters may receive more developed voiceover where justified.

• Cinematic trailers or opening cutscenes.

• Introductory narration or lore snippets.

 

9. Sample Cost Projection (Per Game)

 

• VO Catchphrases (10–20) = $500–$2,000 / ₱27,872.75–₱111,491.00

• Cutscene VO (5–10 mins) = $3,000–$10,000 / ₱167,236.50–₱557,455.00

• Full Localization (text) = $1,500–$5,000 / ₱83,618.25–₱278,727.50

• Full VO Dub (if applied) = $15,000–$50,000+ / ₱836,182.50–₱2,787,275.00+

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10. Conclusion

 

This policy ensures that Psoaic games remain high-quality, agile, and globally accessible while staying within reasonable production budgets. It draws from proven strategies across industry leaders and is tailored to the needs of both players and developers. In particular, Artistic Forces benefits significantly from this strategy, as the vast number of factions, units, and characters (at least 45 including 11 DLC factions) would otherwise result in unsustainable storage use and production costs if voiceovers were implemented for each one. Psoaic X Touhou, meanwhile, will feature selective full voiceover for 110+ characters, following a model similar to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, Cassette Beasts, Warframe, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, and Dust: An Elysian Tail to maintain performance and audience immersion.