PEGI is an organization that probably needs no introduction to gamers. Even if not everyone knows what she does, they have probably come across her when watching trailers for games, especially those aimed at adults. Have you ever wondered how much this phrase is worth?
When we watch a trailer for a movie, we often hear a distinctive voice saying that, according to PEGI, it is intended for people who are, for example, 12 or 18 years old. This phrase may not have the same iconic meaning as “EA SPORTS IT’S IN A GAME” or “War, war never changes”, but it is so recognizable that when we hear it, we immediately understand that we are dealing with the announcement of a new video game.
However, a more difficult task is to find out the name of the actor who pronounces it. It turned out to be Richard Wells, who has been doing voiceovers for 40 years. According to his newly created TikTok, he has recorded 10,000 videos for various companies, including big brands like IKEA and Coca-Cola, and yet everyone mostly associates him with his PEGI videos.
A few days ago, Richard Wells created TikTok not only to solve this mystery that has gripped several million users of the platform, but also to reveal the sad truth.
Considering that the age rating information is one of the most repeated words in the history of video games, it can be assumed that the actor regularly receives royalties for the use of his words in future projects. Unfortunately, in the latest video he showed that the situation is not so rosy.
Several people have asked me if I get paid every time I say this? Well, I’d like to. I was actually paid 200 euros in September 2009 and that was all the money I ever received for this.
In the same video, Wells presented the complete original material that was recorded for the organization.
And if you thought that they might be created by some kind of speech synthesizer so that they could be heard in the future, then the chances of this are slim, since Wells has no intention of selling his voice for use by artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is pretty good at the moment, but it’s also pretty scary. It’s good for hacking work, but for anything that requires intent, emotion, emphasis….. It happens very often that you hear something and the emphasis is put on the wrong word. I’m not going to sell my voice to artificial intelligence, because if you need me, you’ll get me.