Guy Mowbray, football commentator for Match of the Dead, has revealed that he gave permission for publisher Electronic Arts to create an AI clone of his voice to help in the naming of the 20,000 players featured in EA Sports FC.
Speaking in a BBC feature talking about how the commentaries are made in EA Sports FC, Mowbray revealed that recording or preparing for a new instalment in the series is a “part of my weekly routine” that takes up “pretty much every week from November all the way through the start of July.”
It takes so long because for every single facet of the game that you could think of, we have to cover every scenario. It is so in-depth because it has got to feel and sound real – the whole point of the game is its authenticity.
One of the most arduous tasks is recording the name of ever player in the game, which must be done numerous times over — not an easy task considering the franchise includes “more than 20,000 real male and female footballers.” As a result, Mowbray’s voice has been replicated by EA using AI to aid in this process.
“AI has long been part of our development pipeline, from animation to gameplay systems,” said EA, “and continues to support our teams in making better, more responsive football experiences. But when it comes to commentary and content, it’s always a collaboration with our talent – not a replacement.”
EA Sports FC first launched in September 2023 and is a successor to the FIFA franchise, which EA had bee publishing for decades. The most recent entry in the series, EA Sports FC 26, arrived on September 26, 2025, and featured Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala on the standard edition of the game.