The recent re-releases of retro Tomb Raider games, in the form of remastered collections each bundling three of the original games, have been handled by Aspyr – a company known for remasters and ports of older games, such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
However, these releases have not been without controversy, and the latest one revolves around the use of AI in the industry – a familiarly contentious topic. French voice performer for Lara Croft, Francoise Cadol, has accused Aspyr of using AI to replicate her voice for the Tomb Raider 4-6 Collection, released earlier in 2025.
Tomb Raider AI Controversy
Cadol told French publication Le Parisien that it was fans of the game who had brought the issue to her attention, saying, “very quickly, these buyers of the compilation realized that the voice of Lara Croft, who gives gameplay instructions, was not mine. It caused a real uproar among the community.”
Aspyr has yet to respond to the controversy, but they’re being accused of misleading audiences by failing to inform them of this change.
Cadol and her lawyers have issued a notice to Aspyr, who have yet to respond.
The AI in Gaming Debate
Gaming industry employees are constantly at risk – something that’s been exacerbated by recent economic conditions and led to the appearance of several gaming unions, who are hoping to safeguard worker rights.
However, it’s not just developers who are facing difficulties. The ascendance of AI is helping companies make cuts to writing or acting staff, and replace them with a low-cost alternative – a process that has been met with criticism inevitable by audiences and workers.
Other Aspyr Controversies
The name Aspyr might sound familiar to many gaming audiences, with the developer originally behind the remake of the 2003 RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
The project has since changed hands and now finds itself in a sort of developmental limbo, and that reportedly occurred after Sony was shown an internal demo of the game, which left them underwhelmed.
In addition to this, when porting Knights of the Old Republic 2 to mobile and Switch, Aspyr had promised to bring the Restored Content mod to players as DLC – a promise they later back-tracked on, leading to legal action against them.
