NHL 27 Is Getting AI-Generated Commentary Lines, Says John Buccigross

Sports game commentary is one of those things you only really notice when it breaks - the third time you hear the exact same line after a goal, the magic is gone. So this bit of news made me sit up, and honestly not in the fun way.

Veteran hockey broadcaster John Buccigross says EA Sports is using generative AI to create voiceover for the in-game commentators in NHL 27. He mentioned it on the Chirping Zebras podcast (first spotted by Insider Gaming's Mike Straw) while talking about his experience working with EA Sports on the NHL series. The short version: he'll be in NHL 27 - but EA also used generative AI to add voice lines.

What that means in practice, we don't fully know yet. How many lines are generated, how it was handled with the commentators involved, how it'll actually sound coming out of your PS5 or Xbox - none of that is clear from what Buccigross shared. So I'm holding two thoughts at once here.

The optimist in me absolutely gets the appeal. Repetitive commentary is a running joke in every yearly sports game, and hockey moves fast - if extra generated lines mean the booth actually keeps up with a wild third-period comeback instead of recycling the same three phrases, players will feel that immediately.

But here's where I get protective

Commentary is a craft, and those voices belong to real people. The games industry has been having a long, uncomfortable conversation about AI voices, and the performers keep asking for the same simple thing: a real say in how their voices get used, and honesty when a machine steps in. It says something that we're learning about this from a commentator chatting on a podcast rather than from EA itself.

As someone who buys these games to share a couch with family, I'd just like the box - or at least the marketing - to tell me plainly what I'm hearing. If the generated lines are done well and everyone involved is genuinely on board, great, sign me up for a chattier booth. I love the idea of smarter commentary. I just don't want it built on a shrug.

Image: Unknown / CC BY 3.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NHL_faceoff.jpg