Voice actor Troy Baker, known for having played several roles across a variety of major video games, has expressed an interest in making his own games. In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Baker spoke about how he could take the lessons he has learned from working with major names in the industry, including Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann and Kojima Productions’ Hideo Kojima, and use them to tell his own stories.
“To be able to take those tenants and principles, lessons, and losses, and be able to form something new about it,” said Baker. “I want to tell my own stories. I want to proliferate the wisdom and the experience of those other great studios, both good and bad, that have given me, and be able to fold that into new experiences, and try my hand at it. I want to build a team. I’m excited about building a studio. People that I’ve worked with, that I trust, and going, ‘here’s my idea. How can you make it better?”
Baker went on to acknowledge that this wouldn’t be a simple task, however. When asked about how far he thinks he might be from making his own games right now, he said that he isn’t in any rush to do it. “Because I’ve seen a lot of people who have rushed into opportunities. I want to do it right, and especially if I’m going to create a studio where other people are going to be responsible for my choices, I have to make the right ones.”
Baker went into more detail about this in an interview with Eurogamer, where he explained how voice actor Abubakar Salim – the voice actor behind Assassin’s Creed Origins protagonist Bayek – went on a similar journey to create his own studio – Surgent Studios – and released Tales of Kenzera: Zau.
“I love Abu, I played the hell out of his games,” Baker said. “He is someone who has a deep passion for games, and has found a way to turn that into a great business endeavour for him. I’ve had an incredible opportunity working with the best in this industry, it’s insane – Ken Levine, Hideo Kojima, Neil Druckmann, Todd Howard, Vince Zampella – these people are paragons of the industry. I’ve worked with these people, and I’ve learned so much from them.”
“And, what I am excited about doing is taking those tenets, taking those principles of wildly successful titles – not just in terms of sales and figures, but the stories that have defined the industry – and being able to innovate and replicate and emulate those processes and practices into the stories that I want to tell.”
Long-time gamers might be quite familiar with Baker’s work throughout gaming, even if they may not have realized it. The prolific voice actor has worked on quite a few games, with some of the more recent examples being the character of Higgs Monaghan in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. His most recent roles have included the voice of Jack Pepper in Mouse: P.I. for Hire and Mr. A in Screamer. Baker has also worked on projects outside of games, like being the voice of Timmy Timtim in Rick and Morty, and David in the live-action movie adaptation of the horror game Iron Lung.
