The voice actor for the male version of Byleth is being replaced in both Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Heroes. A patch will be released replacing Chris Niosi. While the Nintendo Switch game’s new voice actor has not been confirmed, Zach Aguilar will now voice Byleth in Fire Emblem Heroes. (Thanks, Game Informer!)
This move comes after Niosi made a statement and apology regarding the allegations that he engaged in emotionally and physically and sexually abusive actions against people he was in relationships with, friends, coworkers, and fans. He shared a statement on his Tumblr titled, “It’s Time That I Apologize to All of the People I’ve Hurt.” In addition to the explanation, individual apologies to specific people were provided and he asked that people he hadn’t apologized to get in touch with him.
Nintendo also offered the following statement on the situation to Game Informer.
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.
Here is the Fire Emblem Heroes trailer that mentions Aguilar.
Niosi has acted as an animator and voice actor for various video games over the years. He was an animator on Skullgirls and both animator and voice director for A Hat in Time. He also provided the voices for Therion and Mattias in Octopath Traveler, Dezel in Tales of Zestiria, and Void Dark in Disgaea 5.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is available for the Nintendo Switch. Fire Emblem Heroes is available for Android and Apple iOS devices.
