On 14/07/2026, Iconic launched its 'Digital Actor' tech, designed to bring real-time conversations with digital characters to immersive entertainment. The technology sees a ‘Digital Actor’ non-player character (NPC) listen, respond, and adapt to each conversation with users in real time, showcased in Iconic’s new immersive experience, Pressure Point, where players use voice-control to save a failing submarine by talking an officer through an impossible decision. The approach relies on three AI models: an automated speech recognition model transcribes speech, a large language model decides how the scene should pivot within the narrative blueprint, and a new design of text-to-speech model turns the beat into a voice. A custom orchestration layer acts as a guardrail, and a custom on-device ContextualText-to-Speech model ensures realistic human-like cadence. During testing, Wesley Kerr, head of technology research at a large game studio, said the natural-language conversation was “really good” and that he could “explore around the writing and have a real conversation.” Andrew Bowell, CEO and co-founder of Iconic, stated that immersive entertainment “should feel truly responsive, with stories that adapt to players rather than forcing players to adapt to them.”