Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has some incredible vocal performances from actors Ben Starr, Jennifer English, Charlie Cox and more. While the game is renowned for its fantastic voice work, the stars behind those performances also want representation for the talented motion performances that power them.

Just over a week ago, Gustave voice actor Charlie Cox explained that “any nomination or credit” for his role in the game should go to the game’s motion capture artist Maxence Cazorla. Cox is not alone with his fellow performers not only pushing for Cazorla’s recognition, but also for motion capture to be more widely celebrated.

Speaking to VGC, Marie, Estelle, and Ulysse star Aliona Baranova explained that Geoff Keighley’s annual The Game Awards celebrations should “have a motion capture category”. While best performance celebrates both voice and motion capture, the category rarely focuses on those who solely provide motion performances.

“If I may, can I put my petition forward for why we need to have a motion capture category?” Baranova started. “It needs to happen. I posted about it online the other day, and some people were questioning like, ‘how would we do it?’. I don’t know, they can figure it out. We need to do it because there are these fantastic mo-cap performances going on.”

Baranova, who was the motion capture director of Larian’s incredible Baldur’s Gate 3, explained that it’s “been decades of actors going in, doing the mocap, and then someone else’s voice is popped on top, and those mocap performers just disappear. I forgot that. Nobody knows about them.”

The Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 star explained that the “audience doesn’t know enough about this because there’s not enough attention on it”. However, if the biggest gaming awards show “had an award category for mo-cap specifically, then studios would be encouraged to release that behind-the-scenes footage because people are desperate”.

This has been an issue for decades now. While some actors—such as most of the Baldur’s Gate 3 cast—do both voice work and motion capture, some of the biggest games in the industry use different performers for voice and motion.

For example, Microsoft’s Halo franchise is a huge example of this. While Master Chief is voiced by the incredible Steve Downes, the character’s motion capture has been done by actor Bruce Thomas since Halo 4, and very few fans know just how much of Thomas’ skill is put into that role. Many fans talk about the sullen shoulder movements of Chief at the end of Halo 4, but few know that scene was performed by Thomas.

The games industry has been annoyingly picky regarding what work is highlighted and what isn’t. In fact, in recent years, there have even been issues with developers not being credited for their work in huge AAA productions. For how much they do for gaming, celebrating the performers behind our favourite games is the least we can do.