ReadSpeaker Brings Dynamic Runtime Neural Text to Speech to Xbox Consoles

BOSTON, May 16^th, 2023 — ReadSpeaker is pleased to announce that its runtime neural text-to-speech (TTS) plugin for Unity and Unreal Engine now supports the Xbox platforms.

ReadSpeaker’s Game Engine plugin enables developers to embed AI-driven runtime text-to-speech voices into any game – and now provides full support for Xbox consoles.

ReadSpeaker’s neural voices for gaming are powered by the company’s Deep Neural Network (DNN) TTS engine, which allows neural text to speech to run as a stand-alone solution locally on the device.

The unique runtime plugin enables the compilation of neural speech-enriched games for release in Xbox games, alongside Windows, Linux, and Android.

With ReadSpeaker’s Game Engine plugin, Xbox game developers can easily implement an embedded voice experience that speaks to gamers in real time. This can be used for in-game UI narration, audio cues, dynamic NPC conversations, and more.

On top of the ready-to-use plugin, if game developers prefer to work in an engine other than Unity or Unreal, ReadSpeaker is able to provide the same high-performance neural voice capability for other custom game engines through the ReadSpeaker speechEngine SDK.

The Game Engine plugin can generate dynamic, runtime neural speech synthesis in over 30 languages, supporting global deployment. These languages include Japanese, US English, UK English, Mexican Spanish, Spanish, Canadian French, French, German, Italian, Dutch, and Korean.

“Integrating ReadSpeaker’s text-to-speech plugin took around twenty minutes, and automatically gave a voice to each line of dialogue created within my character engine. There was a lot of nuancing to get the right tone, timing and intonation, and then settings for turning on and off etc., but essentially Acolyte went from a text-only experience to a fully-voiced game – with almost infinite lines of VO – in less than half an hour.”

– Jamin Smith, Director and Lead Designer at Superstring Ltd.

Custom voices for Xbox games via the Game Engine plugin

By using the dynamic runtime TTS plugin for Unity / Unreal Engine, developers can also have the option to add a custom synthetic voice, based on a voice actor or narrator specified by the developer. With a custom voice, a game studio can secure a digital carbon copy of a unique character voice and ensure continuity into the future, without needing to go back to the recording studio.

Leveraging expressive speech through the Game Engine plugin for Xbox

ReadSpeaker’s neural TTS is also able to produce humanlike speech that expresses a range of emotions, including joy, sadness, and anger.

Have a listen:

If you’d like to try our neural TTS voices and hear how they sound in your Xbox games, look for the ReadSpeaker Game Engine plugin in the Microsoft Game Developer documents, under Developer accessibility resources.

“Xbox” is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

About ReadSpeaker

ReadSpeaker is the most trusted independent digital voice partner for global brands, institutions, and organizations. With over 20 years’ experience, ReadSpeaker’s AI-powered text-to-speech solutions and expert assistance enhance the accessibility of digital content and enable more user-friendly and engaging interactions with technology. The company’s flexible cloud and on-premise solutions bring over 200 expressive, humanlike synthetic voices in more than 50 languages to any application or device. The company consistently maintains its uncompromising commitment to data privacy and has so far speech enabled over 10,000 voice applications worldwide.

Media Contact:

Gaea Vilage
Marketing Director NA & EMEA, ReadSpeaker
gaea.vilage@readspeaker.com