Fire Emblem: Three Houses was just released, but already the game is going through a major change thanks in part to a real life issue surrounding one of the principal voice actors.
Voice actor Chris Niosi, whose credits included titles such as Smite, Tales of Zestiria and Octopath Traveler, has been accused of sexual harassment, abuse, and assault. These allegations are actually several years old, but when Niosi was cast as the male voice of Byleth, the titular protagonist of Three Houses, the allegations resurfaced.
Instead of denying the accusations, Niosi actually confirms the mistreatment and abuse on his professional tumblr account.
"My name is Christopher Niosi; also known as Kirbopher. I am 30 years old and for about half of my lifetime, I have horribly mistreated and abused friends, colleagues and even my significant others." opens his post, which was made last week. Niosi spends the rest of the post detailing how he has hurt several people over the years, including past girlfriends, with his behavior.
The backlash, however, had prompted a quick decision by Nintendo, who announced today that Niosi's voice over will be replaced in Thee Houses. In a statement obtained by Game Informer, a Nintendo spokesperson noted that "After assessing the situation, we decided to re-record the character’s voiceovers in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Heroes with another actor. The new voiceovers will be included in a future patch.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VTL5EkDIjY
Interestingly enough, Niosi already had his name removed from the credits of Fire Emblem Heroes, which revealed that Byleth would be coming to the game after the launch of Three Houses. The new credit now belongs to Zach Aguilar, who is likely taking over the voice role for Niosi in the main game.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is available on the Nintendo Switch.
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