Voice actor Troy Baker has thrown his hat in the ring for NFTs, telling followers that they can “hate or you can create” when it comes to non-fungible tokens. Baker, best known for his performance as Joel in The Last of Us and its sequel, pledged his support to Voiceverse NFT, a company producing “the world’s first VoiceNFTs.”
Troy Baker pledges support to NFTs via Voiceverse NFT
Baker’s support of the company was made in a tweet, where he claimed that his partnership with Voiceverse will allow them to “explore ways where together we might bring new tools to new creators to make new things.”
The tweet has since been widely criticized. “Troy Baker getting into NFTs was not on my 2022 bingo sheet,” one user wrote. “Tonight on “Shit You Didn’t Expect To Happen In 2022”, Troy Baker invests in a Ponzi scheme, adding himself to the list of celebrities ignoring the VERY CLEAR BACKLASH against NFTs,” another added.
I’m partnering with @VoiceverseNFT to explore ways where together we might bring new tools to new creators to make new things, and allow everyone a chance to own & invest in the IP’s they create.
We all have a story to tell.
You can hate.
Or you can create.
What’ll it be? pic.twitter.com/cfDGi4q0AZ— Troy Baker (@TroyBakerVA) January 14, 2022
After Troy Baker’s announcement, Voiceverse NFT started its own thread explaining the purpose of the company along with addressing some of the criticisms leveled against it. According to the company, Voice NFTs “provide unlimited, perpetual access to the underlying AI voice that the NFT represents ownership of. If you own a Voice NFT, you can create all kinds of voice content, and you will OWN all of the IP.”
Voiceverse gives several examples of what Voice NFTs can apparently help achieve, including customized audiobooks, YouTube videos, e-learning lectures, and podcasts with “your favorite voice” and without additional legal work. It will apparently also let you “build up your persona in metaverse worlds” by letting you “sound like the Voice NFT you own.” This means effectively being able to talk in the voice of the character you are playing as in a multiplayer game, apparently without the legal hassle that would ensue.
Voiceverse also said it’s looking to make its Voice NFTs more environmentally friendly in the future, though hasn’t given a proposed date on when this would occur. However, the company said it “understands” the environmental impact of non-fungible tokens.
Opinion: We’re not “haters” for not liking NFTs
Paul writes… Troy Baker positioning this as “if you don’t like it, you’re a hater” is similar to that time he hit back at The Last of Us 2 critics with a Theodore Roosevelt quote. If there’s anything more annoying than NFTs, it’s people getting a paycheque from NFTs while pretending that detractors are just non-creatives who don’t “get it.” Nothing about NFTs so far has convinced anyone that they’re a fun creative pursuit — the artwork has been shit, the method of selling them feels like a Ponzi scheme, and the people championing them have mostly ranged from delusional to irritating.
Maybe that’ll change with Voiceverse, or maybe it won’t, but like most everything NFT-related it takes a huge leap of faith to think it’ll work in the way it’s intended to. In this instance, are we supposed to believe that major companies will license out their character voices to be used in whatever way Voice NFT buyers see fit? I can’t see it happening, but even if it does, that’s on these NFT creators and sellers to show us their worth, not just offer up a pipe dream and say we’re the “haters” for not getting it.
