In late July, news came out that the voice actor for the upcoming character Honkai Star Rail’s Moze was stepping down due to backlash from the community. We were eager to see who would take his place, and now we have confirmation.
In a fresh trailer for Honkai Star Rail’s Jiaoqiu – just bear with us, we’re getting to the point – the bio confirms that Honkai Star Rail Moze’s new voice is none other than Ben Balmaceda. That’s right, the voice behind everyone’s favorite architect, Genshin Impact Kaveh, has made it to Honkai – he now provides the gruff and brooding voice for Moze. Maybe that’s why Kaveh disappeared for so long?
While the current update still has previous actor Chris Niosi’s voice as Moze, it will likely change in the 2.5 version update. It may change beforehand, but there hasn’t been any official announcement or information from Hoyoverse other than in the YouTube trailer information.
We’re sure that Balmaceda will do an amazing job, given that his performance as Kaveh is one of the best in Genshin. You can already hear a snippet in the introduction trailer for Jiaoqiu below as Moze chats to Owlbert.
The reason for the actor swap is that the community raised concerns about Niosi being involved with Star Rail due to previous allegations. You can find a full rundown of the situation on this post on Reddit which sums it up well. Niosi himself chose to step down from the role, but judging by how quickly a new voice is getting implemented, we wonder whether there was some forethought on Hoyo’s part.
This also comes as Zenless Zone Zero’s Lucy, Honkai Star Rail’s Argenti, and Honkai Star Rail’s Huohuo receive new voices, though the reason for this swap is unknown – it’s thought to have something to do with a third-party contractual issue and does not pertain to actions of these actors.
If you would like to know more about the mysterious Moze (who looks strikingly like one of the Zenless Zone Zero Proxies, Wise), check out our build guide and the Honkai Star Rail update information.